MEMOIRS    OF    AN 
AMERICAN    LADY 


1756.-  .DIHJ)    IH3S. 


MEMOIRS  OF  AN 
AMERICAN  LADY 

WITH  SKETCHES  OF  MANNERS  AND 
SCENES  IN  AMERICA  AS  THEY  EX- 
ISTED PREVIOUS  TO  THE  REVOLUTION 


By     MRS.    ANNE     GRANT 

Author  of  "  Letters  from  the  Mountains  "  etc. 

WITH  UNPUBLISHED  LETTERS 
AND  A  MEMOIR  OF  MRS.  GRANT 

By  JAMES  GRANT  WILSON 


NEW    YORK     -      DODD,    MEAD 
AND     COMPANY        •  MCMII1 


COPYRIGHT,    1901,  BY 
DODD,   MEAD  AND  COMPANY 


This  edition  printed  in  October,  1903. 


UNIVERSITY    PRESS     .      JOHN    WILSON 
AND    SON    .     CAMBRIDGE     .     U    S.  A. 


THIS  EDITION 

OF 

AN  ADMIRED  AMERICAN  CLASSIC, 
WHICH  FIRST  APPEARED  ALMOST  A  CENTURY  AGO, 

IS  DEDICATED 
BY  THE  AUTHOR'S  GODSON 

TO 

MRS.  JOHN   V.  L.  PRUYN 


808975 


CONTENTS   OF    PART  ONE 

PAGB 

PREFACE ix 

MEMOIR  OF  MRS.  GRANT xiii 

INSCRIPTION xxxvii 

MEMOIRS   OF   AN   AMERICAN   LADY 

INTRODUCTION 39 

CHAPTER 

I.     Origin  of  the  Settlement  of  Albany 45 

II.     The  Five  Nations — John  and  Philip  Schuyler      .  51 

III.  Colonel  Schuyler  and  Five  Sachems  visit  England 

—  Their  Reception  and  Return 58 

IV.  Colonel    Schuyler   and    the    Sachems  —  Literary 

Acquisitions  —  Manners  of  the  Settlers  ...  64 

V.     State  of  Religion  among  the  Settlers  —  Sketch  of 

the  State  of  Society  at  New  York 70 

VI.     Description  of  Albany  —  Manner  of  Laving  there  75 

VII.     Gentle  Treatment  of  Slaves  among  the  Albanians 

—  Reflections  on  Servitude 80 

VIII.     Education  and  Early  Habits  of  the  Albanians    .     .  88 

IX.     First  Adventures  of  the  Indian  Traders  ....  96 

X.     Marriages,  Amusements,  Rural  Excursions,  etc.     .  no 

XI.     Winter  Amusements,  etc 119 

XII.     Lay-Brothers —  Miss  Schuyler — Detached  Indians  1 26 

XIII.  Progress  of  Knowledge  —  Indian  Manners  .     .     .  135 

XIV.  Marriage  of  Miss  Schuyler  —  Description  of  the 

Flats 146  " 

XV.     Philip  Schuyler  —  His  Management  of  the  Indians  155 

XVI.     Account  of  the  Three  Brothers    .  161 


VI 


CONTENTS 


XVII. 

XVIII. 
XIX. 
XX. 

XXI. 

XXII. 
XXIII. 

XXIV. 

XXV. 

XXVI. 

XXVII. 
XXVIII. 

XXIX. 
XXX. 

XXXI. 

XXXII. 

XXXIII. 

XXXIV. 

XXXV. 
XXXVI. 


The  House  and  Rural  Economy  of  the  Flats  —  PAGB 

Birds  and  Insects 165 

Description  of  Colonel  Schuyler's  Barn     .     .     .  174 

Military  Preparations  —  Fidelity  of  the  Mohawks  1 80 

A  Refractory  Warrior  —  The   Spirit   pervading 

the  New  England  Provinces 1 86 

Distinguishing  Characteristics  of  the  New  York 
Colonists  —  Huguenots  and  Palatines    .     .     .      191 

Adoption  of  Children  Common  in  the  Province 

—  Madame's  Visit  to  New  York     .     .     .     .      195 

Colonel  Schuyler's  Military  Partiality — Indian 

Character  falsely  charged  with  Idleness      .     .     200 

Progress  of  Civilization  in  Europe 207 

Independence  of  the  Indians  how  first  diminished     216 

Attractions  of  the  Indian  Mode  of  Life  —  Ac- 
count of  a  Settler  among  them 222 

Indians  attached  by  Conversion  —  Expedition  of 
Mons.  Barre  —  Ironical  Sketch  of  an  Indian 


Christian    Indians  —  Their 
Mohawks 


Influence   with   the 


Madame's  Adopted  Children  —  Sister  Susan 

Death  of  Young  Peter  Schuyler  —  Society  at  the 
Flats 

Hospitality  —  Achievements  by  the  Negroes 
Resources  of  Madame  —  Provincial  Customs 
Followers  of  the  Army — Resulting  Inconveniences 

Arrival  of  a  New  Regiment  —  Domine  Frieling- 
huysen 

Plays  Acted  —  Displeasure  of  the  Domine     .     . 
Domine  Frielinghuysen  leaves  his  People      .     . 


229 

235 
243 

252 
264 

271 
279 

285 

293 
300 


CONTENTS  OF   PART  TWO 

CHAPTER  PAGB 

I.     Death  of  Colonel  Philip  Schuyler I 

II.     Mrs.  Schuyler's  Arrangements  and  Conduct  after 

the  Colonel's  Death 7 

III.  Mohawk  Indians  —  Sir  William  Johnson     .     .     .  Ij; 

IV.  General  Abercrombie  —  Death  of  Lord  Howe     .  20 
V.     Defeat  at  Ticonderoga  —  General  Lee  —  Human- 
ity of  Madame 29 

VI.     The  Family  of  Madame's  Sister  —  The  Death  of 

the  Latter 35 

VII.    Further  Success  of  the  British  Arms  —  A  Mission- 
ary —  Cortlandt  Schuyler 40 

VIII.     Burning  of  the  House  at    the  Flats — Madame's 

Removal  — Journey  of  the  Author    ....  47 
IX.     Continuation  of  the  Journey  —  Arrival  at  Oswego  57 
X.     Benefit  of  Select  Reading  —  Hunting  Excursion  .  69 
XI.     Gardening  and  Agriculture  —  Return  of  the  Au- 
thor to  Albany 74 

XII.     Madame's  Family  and  Society  Described     ...  8 1 

XIII.  Sir  Jeffrey  Amherst  —  Mutiny — Indian  War       .  91 

XIV.  Pontiac  —  Sir  Robert  Davers 99 

XV.     Death  of  Captain  Dalyell  —  Madame  —  Her  Pro- 
teges        107 

XVI.     Madame's  Popularity  —  Exchange  of  Prisoners     .  117 
XVII.     Return  of  the   55th  Regiment  to   Europe — Pri- 
vates sent  to  Pensacola 122 

XVIII.    Property  at  Clarendon  —  Visionary  Plans    ...128 


v\b 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTEK  PAGB 

XIX.     Return  to  the  Flats  —  Summer  Amusements       .  142 

XX.     Melancholy  Presages  —  Turbulence  of  the  People  1  47 
XXI.     Settlers    of    a    new     Description  —  Madame'  s 

Chaplain      ...........  156 

XXII.     Mode  of  conveying  Timber  in  Rafts  down  the 

River      ............  168 

XXIII.  The  Swamp  —  Patrick  Coonie       .....  172 

XXIV.  Mrs.  Schuyler's  View  of  the  Continental  Politics  181 
XXV.     Description   of  the  breaking  up  of  the  Ice  on 

Hudson's  River     .........  185 

XXVI.     Departure  from  Albany  —  Origin  of  the  State  of 

Vermont      ...........  191 

XXVII.     Prosperity  of  Albany  —  General  Reflections       .  200 

XXVIII.     Further  Reflections  —  General  Hamilton        .     .  211 

XXIX.     Sketch  of  the  Settlement  of  Pennsylvania      .     .  219 

XXX.     Prospects  brightening  in  America    .....  228 

APPENDIX 

Letters  to  Dr.  Joseph  Green  Cogswell   .......  237 

Correspondence  between  Mrs.  Alexander  Hamilton  and 

Mrs.    Grant    ..............  258 

Letters  to  Mrs.  Douglas  Cruger,  of  New  York    ....  266 

Letter;  to  Mrs.  Grant  from  Robert  Southey  and  Others  271 
"  The  Indian  Widow,"  and  Lines  addressed  to  an  Ameri- 

can Lady  ...............  282 

A  List  of  Mrs.  Anne  Grant's  Writings  ......  287 


INDEX 


291 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PART    ONE 

Portrait  of  Mrs.  Grant  of  Laggan,  from  a  miniature  painted 
in  1825  by  K.  Macleay,  R.S.A.  Engraved  on  steel 

by  H.  Robinson Frontispiece 

Loch  Laggan,  Inverbess-shire,  the  early  home  of  Mrs.  Grant, 

where  Queen  Victoria  and  Prince  Albert  resided  soon 

after  their  marriage.      From  a  photograph       ....        1 8 

Fac-simile  of  note  sent  to  Dr.  Buchanan  with  a  copy  of  "The 

American  Lady."      From  the  original  in  the  possession 

of  Mrs.  William  G.  Rice,  of  Albany 25 

An  early  portrait  of  Mrs.  Grant 36 

Portrait  of  Colonel  Peter  Schuyler.     From  a  painting  made 

in  London  in  1710  .      .      .      .      ., 59 

Portrait  of  King  Hendrick,  chief  of  the  Five  Nations     .      .        62 
Map  of  the  Flats  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson,  above  Albany      149 
Van  Rensselaer  Manor  House,  built  in  1660,  and  replaced 
by  another  in  1765,  which  was  removed  a  decade  ago 
to  Williamstown,   Mass.       The  original  manor  house, 
erected  by  Jeremias  Van  Rensselaer,  stood  until   1840. 
From  a  drawing  by  Major  Francis  Pruyn      ....      201 

PART    TWO 

Portrait  of  Mrs.  Grant  after  a  painting  by  Sir  John  Watson 
Gordon.  From  a  photograph  received  from  Mrs.  Annie 
Laggan  Dewar,  of  Dunfermline,  Scotland  ....  I 


vili          LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

The  Vanderhuyden  Palace,  erected  on  North  Pearl  Street  in     PAGE 
1725.      Introduced  by  Washington  Irving  in  his  story  of 
"The  Haunted  House."     From  a  water-color  drawing        24 

General  Philip  Schuyler's  residence,  built  in  1760-61.  In 
this  historic  mansion  Washington,  Layfayette,  Franklin, 
and  Burgoyne  were  entertained,  and  Alexander  Hamil- 
ton and  Elizabeth  Schuyler  were  married  in  1780  .  .  45 

Madame  Schuyler's  residence  at  the  Flats.  A  front  view. 
In  this  house  Lord  Howe  was  a  guest  when  on  his  way 
to  Ticonderoga,  and  to  it  he  was  brought  back  dead  .  48 

Fort  Frederick,  State  Street,  Albany,  as  seen  in  Colonial 
Days.  From  a  painting  in  the  possession  of  Mrs.  J.  V.  L. 
Pruyn,  of  Albany 183 

A  fac-simile  of  Aunt  Schuyler's  signature,  from  her  will       .      196 

The  Schuyler  Arms.     From  a  painting  in  the  possession  of 

Mrs.  Harriett  Crosby  Thompson  of  Troy      .     .     .     .      287 


PREFACE 

MRS.  GRANT'S  "  Memoirs  of  an  Ameri- 
can Lady "  has  long  been  out  of  print, 
having  become  so  scarce  that  the  volume 
was  almost  unobtainable,  and  then  only  at  an  exor- 
bitant price.  By  many  it  is  believed  that  so  charm- 
ing a  picture  of  Colonial  life  in  New  York  nearly  a 
century  and  a  half  ago,  should  not  be  permitted  to 
pass  away.  It  is  not  a  romance  nor  a  tale  partly 
founded  on  reality,  but  it  is  an  authentic  record 
of  facts,  —  a  record  which  was  much  admired  by 
Francis  Jeffrey,  Washington  Irving,  Sir  Walter 
Scott,  Robert  Southey,  William  M.  Thackeray,1 
and  other  great  heirs  of  fame,  one  of  whom  praised 
the  description  of  the  breaking  up  of  the  ice  in  the 
Upper  Hudson  "  as  quite  Homeric."  George 
Bancroft  said,  "  Your  kinswoman,  Mrs.  Grant's, 
invaluable  volume,  should  be  in  the  library  of  every 
American  lady." 

1  A  presentation  copy  of  the  original  edition  of  "  The  American 
Lady,"  received  by  the  author  of  "  Henry  Esmond,"  from  a  member 
of  Mrs.  Grant's  family,  and  now  included  in  Major  William  H.  Lam- 
bert's unequalled  collection  of  Thackerayana,  was  among  the  "  Great 
Thacker's"  most  highly  prized  literary  treasures.  The  writer  is  the 
fortunate  possessor  of  almost  all  her  publications,  being  copies  received 
from  Mrs.  Grant  by  his  father,  containing  complimentary  inscriptions. 


x  PREFACE 

In  preparing  a  new  edition  of  this  genuine  picture 
of  our  ancestors  prior  to  the  amazing  changes  pro- 
duced by  the  Revolution,  —  a  picture  which  Paulding 
informed  me  suggested  "  The  Dutchman's  Fireside," 
—  it  has  been  thought  that  some  account  of  the  good 
and  gifted  lady  to  whom  the  world  is  indebted  for 
the  Memoir  of  Mrs.  Schuyler  would  be  acceptable, 
as  well  as  the  numerous  accompanying  notes.  A 
number  of  these  were  contributed  to  the  edition  of 
1876,  by  Joel  Munsell,  the  Albany  antiquarian, 
while  other  notes  were  supplied  two  decades  after 
that  date,  by  the  late  George  W.  Schuyler.  In  the 
Appendix  will  be  found  a  sheaf  of  Mrs.  Grant's 
hitherto  unpublished  letters,  addressed  to  Mrs. 
Alexander  Hamilton  and  Dr.  Joseph  G.  Cogswell 
between  the  years  1819-1834,  that  it  is  believed 
will  enhance  the  value  of  the  volume.  A  fine  steel 
portrait  of  the  author  appears  as  a  frontispiece. 
For  the  larger  portion  of  the  illustrations  of  ancient 
Albany  that  are  included,  the  editor  is  indebted  to 
the  courtesy  of  Col.  Augustus  Pruyn,  who  made 
the  photographs  from  which  they  are  reproduced. 

That  Mrs.  Grant  should,  in  respect  to  persons  and 
places,  have  made  some  slight  errors  in  her  admirable 
memoir  of  Mrs.  Schuyler,  is  not  surprising  ;  the 
marvel  is  that  so  few  appear  in  her  pages,  when  it 
is  remembered  that  the  work  was  written  nearly 
half  a  century  after  the  occurrence  of  the  events 
described,  entirely  from  memory,  and  that  too  the 
recollections  of  a  child  between  the  age  of  three  and 


PREFACE  xi 

thirteen  !  Mrs.  Grant  had  neither  the  aid  of  letters, 
a  diary,  or  data  of  any  description  in  the  preparation 
of  the  Memoir,  which  first  appeared  in  London,  in 
1808,  and  was  republished  in  Boston  and  New  York 
during  the  following  year.  The  last  of  the  numer- 
ous editions  printed  since  those  dates  in  the  new 
world  and  old,  was  issued  in  Albany  precisely  a 
quarter  of  a  century  ago. 

J.  G.  W. 
NEW  YORK,  September,  1901. 


MEMOIR  OF  MRS.  GRANT 

MRS.  ANNE  GRANT,  commonly  styled  of 
Laggan,  to  distinguish  her  from  her  friend 
and  contemporary  Mrs.  Grant  of  Carron,1 
was  born  at  Glasgow,  February  21,  1755.  Her 
father,  Duncan  MacVicar,  who  is  described  as  a 
plain,  brave,  pious  man,  was  an  officer  in  the  yyth 
infantry,  a  Highland  regiment;  her  mother  a  de- 
scendant of  the  family  of  Stewart  of  Invernahyle. 
"  My  father,"  writes  Mrs.  Grant,  "  was  born  in  the 
parish  of  Craignish,  in  Argyllshire,  and  was  early 
left  an  orphan.  He  removed,  when  a  young  man, 
to  Fort  William  in  Inverness-shire,  where  he  had 
some  concern  in  farming  along  with  his  relation 
Captain  MacVicar.  In  1753,  he  married  my  mother, 
who  was  a  grand-daughter  of  Mr.  Stewart  of  Inver- 
nahyle, an  ancient  family  in  the  neighboring  county 
of  Argyll.  Sometime  afterwards  my  parents  re- 
moved to  Glasgow."  Her  maternal  grand-uncle, 
Alexander  Stewart  of  Invernahyle,  was  the  prototype 
of  the  Baron  of  Bradwardine  in  "  Waverley."  Sir 
Walter,  in  the  introduction  to  a  new  edition  in  1829, 

1  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Grant,  author  of  "  Roy's  Wife  of  Aldivalloch." 


xiv    MEMOIR    OF    MRS.    GRANT 

says,  "  Stewart  was  a  noble  specimen  of  the  old 
Highlander,  far  descended,  gallant,  courteous,  and 
brave  even  to  chivalry."  Mrs.  Grant,  it  may  be 
mentioned,  was  one  of  the  first  to  recognize  his 
ideal  representation  in  "  Waverley,"  and  to  express 
the  opinion  that  the  work  was  written  by  Scott, 
who  in  her  judgment  was  not,  in  that  work,  alto- 
gether just  to  her  beloved  Highlanders.  "The 
only  particular,"  writes  Mrs.  Grant,  "  of  my  infant- 
ine history  that  I  remember  to  have  heard  related, 
took  place  in  the  streets  of  Glasgow,  and  I  mention 
it  to  show  at  what  an  early  age  children  observe  and 
remember.  My  mother  lived  in  the  eastern  ex- 
tremity of  the  town :  I  suppose  she  often  spoke  to 
others,  though  not  to  me,  of  my  father  being  in 
America,  and  might  very  probably  point  westward 
when  describing  in  what  direction  the  New  World 
lay  to  some  one  who  knew  still  less  than  myself  of 
geography.  Be  that  as  it  may,  I  certainly  set  off 
one  Sunday  evening  when  I  was  at  most  two  years 
and  eight  months  old,  and  walked  deliberately  by 
myself  very  nearly  a  mile  to  the  western  extremity 
of  the  Trongate  ;  how  much  further  I  might  have 
gone  is  not  known.  A  lady  looking  out  of  a  win- 
dow saw  with  some  surprise  a  child  neatly  dressed 
in  white,  with  bare  head  and  arms,  walking  alone 
and  unattended  in  the  middle  of  the  street.  She 
sent  for  me  and  asked  me  where  I  came  from.  I 
said  '  mamma's  house  ; '  I  could  tell  no  more.  She 
next  questioned  me  where  I  was  going.  I  answered 


MEMOIR    OF    MRS.    GRANT   xv 

in  my  imperfect  manner  that  I  was  going  to  America 
to  seek  papa."  * 

Soon  after  this  event,  Mrs.  MacVicar  and  her 
daughter  sailed  for  the  New  World  and  settled  at 
Claverack  on  the  Hudson,  where  her  husband  was 
stationed  with  a  party  of  Highlanders.  Here  Anne 
was  taught  to  read  by  her  mother,  and  learned  to 
speak  Dutch.  An  intelligent  sergeant  of  the  com- 
pany made  her  a  proficient  in  writing,  and  observing 
her  eager  thirst  for  knowledge  presented  his  pre- 
cocious little  pupil  with  an  appropriate  soldier's 
gift,  —  even  the  poem  of  Wallace  by  the  patriotic 
Scottish  Homer,  Blind  Harry.  The  quaint  and 
almost  forgotten  language  in  which  this  work  is 
written,  as  well  as  its  obsolete  orthography,  would 
have  made  it  a  sealed  book  to  the  half  Scottish, 
half  American  child,  had  it  not  been  for  the  kind- 
ness of  the  sergeant,  who  taught  her  to  decipher 
words  and  to  understand  the  meaning  of  the  ancient 
minstrel.  From  this  source  she  in  part  derived  that 
enthusiastic  love  of  her  native  land,  "  Where  blooms 
the  red  heather  and  thistle  sae  green,"  which  ever 
afterwards  was  a  distinguishing  feature  in  her 
character. 

In  1760,  Captain  MacVicar,  who  had  taken  part 
in  the  disastrous  expedition  to  Ticonderoga  and 
been  stationed  at  Oswego,  was  sent  back  to  Clave- 
rack to  conduct  a  company  to  the  former  place. 

1  "  Mrs.  Grant's  Memoirs  and  Correspondence,"  3  vols.,  London, 
1844. 


xvi    MEMOIR    OF    MRS.    GRANT 

His  wife  and  daughter  accompanied  the  detachment 
on  the  picturesque  and  perilous  journey  through 
the  wilderness  to  Oswego,  concerning  which  Mrs. 
Grant  remarks  in  her  "  Memoirs  of  an  American 
Lady,"  "  I  am  convinced  that  I  thought  more  in 
that  fortnight,  that  is,  acquired  more  ideas  and  took 
more  lasting  impressions,  than  ever  I  did  in  the 
same  space  of  time  in  my  life."  The  commandant 
of  the  post  was  our  old  friend  Major  Duncan  of 
Lundie,1  whose  portrait  is  given  in  Cooper's  "  Last 
of  the  Mohicans,"  and  also  by  Mrs.  Grant,  who 
describes  him  as  an  experienced,  humane,  judicious 
yet  obstinate  officer,  and  somewhat  of  a  humorist 
withal.  In  her  sixth  year  Anne  was  familiar  with 
the  Old  Testament,  and  read  with  eagerness  and 
pleasure  Milton's  "  Paradise  Lost,"  a  poem  which 
has  daunted  so  many  youthful  readers  at  the  out- 
set. Her  talents,  in  the  summer  of  1762,  attracted 
the  attention  of  Madame  Schuyler,  with  whom  she 
resided  at  Albany  for  several  years,  acquiring  during 
her  sojourn  among  her  hospitable  friends  an  addi- 
tional knowledge  of  the  Dutch  language  at  that  day 
much  spoken  by  many  of  the  best  families. 

A  few  years  after  the  conquest  of  Canada,  Mac- 
Vicar  resigned  his  position  in  the  army,  going  on  the 
half-pay  list  in  1765,  and  became  a  settler  in  Ver- 
mont, where  he  received  a  grant  of  land  from  the 
British  government,  to  which  he  made  large  addi- 
tions by  purchase  from  his  brother  officers.  While 

1  Afterwards  Colonel  Duncan,  elder  brother  of  Lord  Camperdown. 


MEMOIR    OF    MRS.    GRANT    xvii 

here,  his  worth  and  agreeable  manners  won  for  him 
and  his  family  the  esteem  of  all  the  neighboring 
settlers.  His  career  of  prosperity  was,  however, 
interrupted  by  ill-health  and  low  spirits,  and  in 
1768  he  decided  to  return  to  his  native  land.  Anne 
accompanied  her  parents,  and  at  the  age  of  thirteen 
she  left  America  never  to  see  it  again.  Unfortu- 
nately for  Mac  Vicar,  he  took  his  departure  from  the 
country  without  disposing  of  his  property,  which, 
upon  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolutionary  War 
soon  after,  was  confiscated  by  the  new  republican 
government.  He  was  therefore  compelled  to  de- 
pend chiefly  upon  his  limited  pay  as  a  barrack- 
master  of  Fort  Augustus,  in  Inverness-shire,  to 
which  position  he  had  been  appointed  in  1773,  and 
his  daughter  was  no  longer  looked  upon  as  a  young 
American  heiress. 

With  her  journey  from  Glasgow  to  that  place, 
which  she  could  reach  only  by  riding  on  horseback, 
commences  the  portion  of  Mrs.  Grant's  correspond- 
ence that  was  published  under  the  title  of  "  Letters 
from  the  Mountains."  On  the  first  evening  after 
her  arrival  at  the  fort,  she  met  the  Rev.  James 
Grant,  the  military  chaplain,  an  accomplished 
scholar  of  somewhat  romantic  character,  connected 
with  several  of  the  first  families  of  the  district.  Her 
residence  at  Fort  Augustus  was  terminated  by  her 
marriage  to  this  gentleman  in  the  year  1779,  wnen 
they  removed  to  the  parish  of  Laggan,  in  Inverness- 
shire,  to  which  Mr.  Grant  had  been  appointed. 


xviii    MEMOIR    OF    MRS.  GRANT 

On  becoming  the  wife  of  a  Highland  clergyman, 
Mrs.  Grant  desired  to  aid  her  husband,  but  a 
difficulty  opposed  her  progress  at  the  outset. 
Although  a  Mac,  she  was  not  a  Highlander,  and 
she  did  not  possess  the  most  essential  passport  to 
a  Highland  heart,  a  knowledge  of  their  language. 
Undeterred,  however,  by  an  obstacle  which  few  Low- 
landers  comparatively  except  enthusiasts  like  Pro- 
fessor Blackie  have  ever  surmounted,  she,  by  great 
application,  soon  acquired  a  sufficient  knowledge  of 
Gaelic  to  converse  freely  with  the  people  in  their 
own  tongue,  and  was  successful  in  translating  the 
poetry  of  the  Highlands.  One  of  her  earliest 
translations,  "  The  Aged  Bard's  Wish,"  is  a  compo- 
sition of  singular  elegance  and  pathos,  remarkable 
for  certain  allusions  to  the  age  and  imagery  of 
Ossian.  With  the  Celtic  language  she  studied  the 
manners  and  feelings  of  the  Highlanders,  and  was 
soon  able  to  identify  herself  with  the  parishioners 
among  whom  her  lot  was  cast;  and  they  on  their 
part  appreciated  these  kind  labors  of  a  stranger  with 
true  Highland  enthusiasm,  and  felt  that  she  was 
their  own  countrywoman  in  heart  and  soul  as  well 
as  in  tongue  and  lineage.  Mrs.  Grant  studied  their 
"  folklore,"  and  was  successful  in  relieving  much 
distress  among  the  peasantry  of  the  surrounding 
district. 

Her  lines  had  fallen  in  pleasant  places.  In  the 
simple  life  .of  a  secluded  Highland  parish,  many 
happy  and  tranquil  years  passed  in  Laggan,  and 


MEMOIR    OF    MRS.    GRANT    xix 

Mrs.  Grant,  the  mother  of  twelve  children,  seemed 
destined  to  be  one  of  those  "  of  whom  Fame  speaks 

not"  but 

"  Gentle  hearts  rejoice 
Around  their  steps  —  till  silently  they  die." 

"  The  circles  of  our  felicities,"  writes  Sir  Thomas 
Browne,  "make  short  arches."  Who  shall  question 
the  wise  axiom  of  the  good  old  knight  of  Norwich? 
After  four  successive  deaths  in  her  family,  Mr. 
Grant,  who  was  constitutionally  delicate,  passed 
away  in  the  year  iSoi,1  and  his  widow  was  left  with 
eight  children  dependent  upon  her  exertions,  while 
the  manse,  for  more  than  a  score  of  years  her  happy 
home,  must  be  given  up  to  his  successor.  On 
examining  their  affairs,  Mrs.  Grant  found  that  she 
had  been  left  in  debt  to  a  considerable  amount,  the 
scale  of  clerical  and  Highland  hospitality  on  which 
the  household  had  been  conducted  having  greatly 
exceeded  the  amount  of  her  husband's  moderate 
stipend. 

Among  her  many  friends  Mrs.  Grant  had  long 
been  known  as  a  writer  of  verses,  having  in  her 
ninth  year  essayed  imitations  of  Milton,  and  com- 
posed several  songs  and  poems  while  residing  on 
the  banks  of  the  Clyde,  before  the  family  proceeded 
to  Fort  Augustus.  "  I  had  early,"  she  writes, "  dis- 

1  When  the  writer  visited  the  parish  of  Laggan  where  the  Rev. 
James  Grant  is  buried,  he  found  the  good  man's  memory  and  that  of 
his  gifted  wife  were  still  cherished  among  the  descendants  of  the  warm- 
hearted Highlanders,  who  were  so  deeply  attached  to  them  during 
their  twenty-one  years'  residence  there. 


xx     MEMOIR    OF    MRS.    GRANT 

covered  a  faculty  for  rhyming,  scarcely  worthy  to 
be  dignified  with  the  name  of  poetry,  but  easy  and 
fluent."  Mrs.  Grant  was  urged  to  collect  and  pub- 
lish these  productions  with  a  view  to  aiding  in  the 
support  of  her  family,  and  as  an  inducement  three 
thousand  subscribers  were  speedily  obtained  under 
the  patronage  of  the  celebrated  Duchess  of  Gordon, 
one  of  whose  summer  seats  was  at  Kinrara  near 
Laggan.  In  1803,  "The  Highlanders  and  other 
Poems  "  appeared  in  a  well-printed  octavo  volume, 
the  profits  of  which  enabled  Mrs.  Grant  to  dis- 
charge the  debts  which  had  hung  most  heavily 
on  her  mind.  Of  a  few  songs  which  proceeded 
from  her  pen,  only  that  charming  one  generally 
known  from  its  melody  as  "  The  Blue  Bells  of 
Scotland  "  has  outlived  their  author.  The  genius 
of  Mrs.  Grant  was  not  lyrical ;  but  in  all  her  poet- 
ical productions  there  is  a  steady  current  of  har- 
mony and  good  sense,  more  indicative  of  the  shrewd 
observer  than  the  poet. 

Perceiving  from  the  surprising  success  of  her 
poems  a  prospect  of  better  maintaining  her  family 
by  her  literary  efforts,  Mrs.  Grant  sorrowfully  aban- 
doned the  small  farm  near  Laggan  which  she  had 
leased  after  her  husband's  death,  and  removed  to 
a  sequestered  spot  in  the  neighborhood  of  Stirling. 
Besides  her  own  family,  including  her  mother,  she 
had  with  her  three  girls  from  the  West  Indies,  who 
were  placed  under  her  care.  Her  pecuniary  re- 
sources were  increased  by  the  compensation  which 


MEMOIR    OF    MRS.    GRANT    xxi 

she  received  for  this  charge,  and  they  continued  to 
be  so  from  a  similar  source  for  thirty  years.  Many 
young  ladies  were  successively  inmates  of  her  fam- 
ily. The  number  was  usually  restricted  to  three  or 
four,  and  the  deep  interest  she  felt  in  them  and 
the  affection  which  they  retained  for  her  contrib- 
uted greatly  to  her  happiness.  The  benefit  which 
Mrs.  Grant  was  expected  to  afford  the  fortunate 
inmates  of  her  household  was  chiefly  in  forming 
their  mind  and  manners,  and  at  a  later  period  an 
introduction  into  the  Edinburgh  literary  society  in 
which  she  moved.  Among  her  many  pupils  was 
the  mother  of  the  late  Duke  of  Argyll l  and  Miss 
Harriet  Douglas2  of  New  York,  later  Mrs.  Douglas 
Cruger,  with  whom  she  maintained  for  many  years 
a  correspondence  terminated  only  by  her  death. 
On  one  occasion  the  latter  came  down  late  to 
breakfast  to  Mrs.  Grant's  great  annoyance,  as  she 
was  fond  of  punctuality  and  showed  her  displeas- 
ure by  not  speaking.  By  way  of  atoning  for  her 

1  Writing  from  Inverary  Castle  on  his  return  from  a  visit  to  the 
Marquis  of  Lome,  then  Governor-General  of  Canada,  the  Duke  says, 
"I  have  been  reading,  with  unfeigned  interest,    your  new  edition  of 
«  The  American  Lady,'  for  which  I  was  indebted  to  you  when  we  met 
in  New  York.     Mrs.  Grant  possessed  a  powerful  and  sensitive  mind, 
and  her  writings  have  afforded  me  both  profit  and  pleasure,  her  admi- 
rable  memoir  of  Mrs.  Schuyler  perhaps  more  than  any  other.      Your 
account  of  the  author  adds  value  to  the  attractive  volume." 

2  Sir  John  Watson  Gordon's  full-length  portrait  of  Mrs.  Grant  was 
painted  for  Miss  Douglas,  and  by  her  heirs  presented  in  1876,  through 
George   L.    Schuyler   of  New  York,   to   her  daughter-in-law,   Mrs. 
Grant,  of  Edinburgh.     It  is  now  the  property  of  her  son. 


XXII 


MEMOIR    OF    MRS.    GRANT 


fault,  Miss  Douglas  endeavored  to  be  very  agree- 
able, and  to  engage  Mrs.  Grant  in  conversation, 
when  the  old  lady  at  length  said, 

«« If  I  make  a  remark, 
It  will  be  of  the  lark."  l 

In  1806,  Mrs.  Grant's  second  work  was  published 
by  the  Longmans  of  London,  entitled  "Letters 

i  In  a  letter  now  before  the  writer,  dated  Rome,  May  3,  1831, 
Miss  Douglas  sends  Mrs.  Grant  an  account  of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  at  that 
time  in  Italy  with  the  vain  hope  of  improving  his  shattered  health  : 
"Sir  Walter  Scott,  who  made  us  take  a  stirrup-cup  with  him  the 
morning  that  we  left  Rome,  goes  the  same  way,  via  Venice,  the 
Tyrol,  and  the  Rhine,  to  Brussels,  and  it  may  be  that  he  will  over- 
take us,  which  would  certainly  be  a  great  compensation  for  the  delays 
that  have  occurred,  to  have  the  pleasure  of  his  company  and  the  benefit 
of  his  advice  and  judgment  in  these  perplexing  times  [the  cholera  was 
then  prevailing  in  portions  of  Europe].  He  is  brightened,  I  think, 
but  not  permanently  bettered,  by  his  journey.  He  did  us  the  honor 
to  take  a  drive  with  George  [her  brother,  George  Douglas,  of  New 
York]  and  myself,  in  the  Appian  Way,  visiting  the  various  tombs  and 
curiosities  that  it  offers.  Sir  Walter  was  with  us  from  ten  till  four, 
and  George  amused  him  by  repeating  several  extracts  from  his  own 
poems,  inspired  by  the  quotations  and  anecdotes  of  his  animated  con- 
versation. Afterward  he  went  to  see  the  portrait  an  American  artist 
has  been  making  of  me,  at  his  own  request.  It  is  to  be  yours  during 
your  lifetime,  and  you  will  receive  it  in  a  few  weeks.  The  one  by 
Sir  William  Beechy  is  still  with  him,  and  I  do  not  know  what  I  shall 
do  about  it,  as  every  one  condemns  the  likeness,  and  I  shall  have  no 
opportunity  of  sitting  for  another. 

"  One  morning  when  I  was  breakfasting  with  Sir  Walter  I  received 
your  last  letter,  and  I  read  to  him  the  portion  where  you  say  among 
the  thousand  and  one  reasons  for  your  love  and  admiration  of  him 
was  his  charming  Doric,  so  redolent  of  youth  and  its  innocent  enjoy- 
ments. I  have  no  time  to  describe  the  royal  wedding  I  attended  at 
Naples  last  week,  when  the  King's  sister  was  married  to  the  Prince  of 
Spain.  His  Majesty  graciously  invited  us  to  be  present,  although  we 
had  not  then  been  presented." 


MEMOIR    OF    MRS.    GRANT    xxiii 

from  the  Mountains,"  which  had  been  written 
chiefly  to  her  correspondents  from  the  manse  dur- 
ing a  long  series  of  years.  They  were  so  full  of 
Highland  scenery,  character  and  legends,  expressed 
in  the  happiest  style  of  epistolary  composition,  that 
even  with  the  omission  of  whatever  was  private  or 
of  a  confidential  character,  they  proved  exceedingly 
popular  and  rapidly  passed  through  several  editions. 
"  No  person,  I  believe,"  wrote  Mrs.  Grant,  "  was  so 
astonished  at  their  success  as  myself;"  and  when 
another  three  hundred  pounds  was  received  for  the 
second  edition  she  said :  "  I  calculate  and  wonder 
at  my  own  wealth."  As  pleasant  illustrations  of  the 
deep  interest  felt  in  the  letters  and  their  writer,  it 
may  be  mentioned  that  three  wealthy  Scotch  mer- 
chants of  London,  with  whom  Mrs.  Grant  had  no 
previous  acquaintance,  sent  her  a  present  of  three 
hundred  pounds,  and  through  the  exertions  of  Miss 
Anne  Cabot  Lowell,  Mrs.  Josiah  Quincy,  and  a  few 
other  ladies  of  Boston,  also  unknown  to  Mrs.  Grant, 
an  American  edition  of  her  "  Letters  from  the  Moun- 
tains "  was  published  in  that  city,  and  a  thousand 
dollars  was  remitted  to  her  as  the  proceeds.  In  her 

1  This  kind  act  was  consummated  chiefly  through  the  efforts  of 
Miss  Lowell,  whose  brother  John  Lowell,  Jr. ,  became  acquainted  with 
Mrs.  Grant  during  his  residence  of  several  years  in  Edinburgh,  and 
left  her  a  legacy  of  five  thousand  dollars  as  a  mark  of  affectionate  ven- 
eration for  her  character.  Sir  William  Grant,  Master  of  the  Rolls,  to 
whom  this  work  was  dedicated,  bequeathed  Mrs.  Grant  an  annuity  of 
^100  per  annum.  These  legacies,  combined  with  other  sources  of  in- 
come during  the  later  years  of  her  long  life,  not  only  placed  her  in 


xxiv    MEMOIR    OF    MRS.    GRANT 

brief  autobiography  Mrs.  Grant  mentions  this  un- 
locked for  act  of  kindness  in  the  following  words : 
"  Among  the  many  singular  events  by  which  a 
quiet,  secluded  life  has  been  diversified,  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  was  the  benevolence  and  warmth 
of  friendship  which  prompted  an  American  lady  of 
distinguished  worth  and  talents  to  make  a  very  un- 
common exertion  in  behalf  of  the  subject  of  this 
memoir.  Meeting  accidentally  with  the  '  Letters 
from  the  Mountains,'  this  ardent  and  superior  mind, 
not  satisfied  with  warm  approbation,  and  the  elegant 
expression  of  these  feelings  to  the  author,  actually, 
with  the  assistance  of  some  friends,  reprinted  the 
work  at  Boston,  and  remitted  the  profits  to  the 
author.  This  lady,  now  beyond  the  reach  of  human 
praise,  closed  an  exemplary  life  amidst  her  fondly 
attached  friends  and  relations  in  1811.  She  was 
daughter  to  the  late  eminent  Judge  Lowell,  of 
New  England." 

Mrs.  Grant's  best-known  work,  begun  in  1 807  at 
the  age  of  fifty-two,  and  issued  by  her  friends  the 
Messrs.  Longman,  of  London,  in  the  year  following, 
is  entitled  "  Memoirs  of  an  American  Lady."  It 
consists,  in  addition  to  her  youthful  recollections  of 
Margarita  Schuyler,  who  married  her  cousin,  Col. 
Philip  Schuyler l  of  Albany,  of  descriptions  of  the 
simple  manners  of  the  descendants  of  the  Dutch 

easy  circumstances,  but  permitted  Mrs.  Grant  to  gratify  her  generosity 
by  giving  to  others. 

1  The  distinguished  Revolutionary  general  of  the  same  name  was  a 
nephew  of  Mrs.  Schuyler. 


FACSIMILE  OF  NOTE  ACCOMPANYING  PRESENTATION  COPY  OF  THE 
SECOND  LONDON   EDITION   OF  "THE  AMERICAN  LADY" 


MEMOIR    OF    MRS.    GRANT    xxv 

settlers,  sketches  of  the  history  of  New  York,  and 
anecdotes  of  the  Indians.  What  did  not  fall  within 
her  own  personal  experiences  as  a  child  she  appears 
to  have  gleaned  from  the  conversation  of  Mrs. 
Schuyler  and  others,  and  she  seems  to  have  for- 
gotten nothing;  for  the  quick-witted  child  had  an 
observant  eye  and  a  mind  like  Macaulay's,  which 
was 

"  Wax  to  receive,  and  marble  to  retain." 

The  volume  concludes  with  two  chapters  of  Gen- 
eral Reflections,  in  which  Mrs.  Grant,  who,  like 
Mrs.  Schuyler,  was  a  staunch  and  true  Tory,  in- 
dulges in  lugubrious  prophecies  of  the  moral,  social, 
and  intellectual  future  of  the  country.  "  What  the 
loss  of  the  Huguenots,"  she  remarks,  "  was  to  com- 
merce and  manufactures  in  France,  that  of  the 
loyalists  was  to  religion,  literature,  and  amenity  in 
America."  My  excellent  godmother  should  have 
lived  to  see  our  Centennial  and  Columbian  exposi- 
tions, or  the  later  display  of  1901,  in  Buffalo.  A 
second  edition  of  the  work  appeared  in  1 809,  and 
was  reprinted  the  same  year  in  Boston  and  in  New 
York.1  Other  editions  appeared  in  the  latter  city  in 

1  James  K.  Paulding,  in  a  prefatory  paragraph  to  his  most  popular 
work  published  in  1831,  says,  "The  idea  of  the  following  tale  was 
conceived  on  reading,  many  years  ago,  « The  Memoirs  of  an  American 
Lady,'  by  Mrs.  Grant,  of  Laggan  ;  and  the  work  partly  finished  about 
that  time.  The  reader  acquainted  with  the  book  referred  to  will  per- 
haps wonder  at  the  indiscretion  of  the  author  of  'The  Dutchman's 
Fireside '  in  thus,  as  it  were,  provoking  a  comparison  with  one  of  the 
finest  sketches  of  early  American  manners  ever  drawn." 


xxvi     MEMOIR    OF    MRS.    GRANT 

1836  and  1846,  also  in  Albany  in  1876,  while  a 
third  edition  was  published  in  London  in  1817. 

De  Quincey  accidentally  encountered  Mrs.  Grant 
and  one  of  her  beautiful  daughters  in  a  stage-coach 
soon  after  the  "  Memoirs  of  an  American  Lady  " 
first  appeared.  The  charms  of  the  daughter  of 
course  were  not  lost  upon  the  enthusiastic  tempera- 
ment of  the  opium-eater;  but  the  conversation  of 
the  mother  seems  to  have  impressed  him  more 
deeply.  In  his  "  Literary  Reminiscences,"  written 
many  years  later,  he  tells  us  with  much  feeling: 
"  Her  kindness  to  me  was  particularly  flattering,  and 
to  this  day  I  retain  the  impression  of  the  benignity 
which  she  —  an  established  wit  and  just  then  receiv- 
ing incense  from  all  quarters  —  showed  in  her  man- 
ners to  me,  —  a  person  wholly  unknown."  In  "  Mrs. 
Fletcher's  Autobiography  "  we  also  obtain  occasional 
glimpses  of  Mrs.  Grant.  The  author  makes  the 
following  record  at  the  time  of  the  visit  of  George 
the  Fourth  to  Edinburgh  :  "  Mrs.  Grant  of  Lag- 
gan,  a  great  lover  of  kings,  was  of  our  party.  The 
good  old  lady  had,  for  this  joyous  occasion,  put  off 
her  habitual  black  dress  and  robed  herself  in  a 
salmon-colored  satin,  and  with  the  rest  of  the  party 
waved  her  handkerchief  as  the  king  appeared. 
They  all  had  a  good  laugh  at  my  expense,  who, 
somewhat  notorious  for  being  no  lover  of  kings, 
was  actually  detected  shedding  tears  and  waving  my 
handkerchief, '  like  the  lave,'  as  the  pageant  passed." 

In   1810   Mrs.    Grant   removed   to    Edinburgh, 


MEMOIR    OF    MRS.    GRANT    xxvii 

and  her  residence  there  was  frequented  by  Lord 
Jeffrey,  Sir  Walter  Scott,  Henry  Mackenzie,  "Chris- 
topher North,"  the  "  Ettrick  Shepherd,"  and  other 
magnates  of  the  Scottish  literary  world.  The  year 
following  she  published  her  "  Essays  on  the  Super- 
stitions of  the  Highlanders,"  —  a  work  full  of  enthu- 
siasm for  the  character  of  the  people  among  whom 
she  so  long  resided.  So  conspicuous  was  her 
pre-eminence  in  Gaelic  literature  by  her  beautiful 
translations,1  and  by  her  knowledge  of  the  people, 
that  the  earlier  volumes  of  the  "  Waverley  Novels  " 
were  frequently  attributed  to  her  pen.  Mrs.  Grant's 
writings  in  prose  and  verse  were  among  the  first  to 
draw  attention  to  the  romantic  scenery  and  peculiar 
manners  of  the  Scottish  Highlanders,  anticipating 
Walter  Scott  by  more  than  a  decade.  It  may  be 
mentioned  that  when  our  author  first  met  Scott,  she 
thought  his  appearance  "very  unpromising  and 
commonplace,  yet  though  no  gleam  of  genius  ani- 
mates his  countenance,  much  of  it  appears  in  his  con- 
versation, which  is  rich,  varied,  easy,  and  animated." 
"  Eighteen  Hundred  and  Thirteen,"  a  metrical 
work,  appeared  in  1814,  followed  by  her  last  liter- 
ary production,  entitled  "  Popular  Models  and  Im- 
pressive Warnings  for  the  Sons  and  Daughters  of 
Industry,"  which  was  published  in  1815.  During 
the  interval  of  twenty-three  years  between  the  pub- 
lication of  the  last  volume  and  her  death,  Mrs. 

1  Vide    Wilson's    "Poets    and    Poetry    of  Scotland,"    a    vols., 
Harper's,    1876. 


xxviii    MEMOIR    OF    MRS.    GRANT 

Grant's  literary  labors  were  no  longer  necessary  for 
her  support,  but  were  taken  up  as  recreation.  They 
were  confined  chiefly  to  the  composition  of  occa- 
sional verses,  and  to  translations  from  the  Gaelic. 
For  one  of  these,  a  production  of  singular  elegance 
and  pathos,  she  in  1824  received  the  gold  medal 
of  the  Highland  Society.  Her  last  poetical  lines 
were  written  on  her  eighty-third  birthday. 

"  When  all  my  earthly  treasures  fled, 
And  grief  bowed  down  my  drooping  head, 
Nor  faith,  nor  hope,  nor  comfort  fled. 
From  bright  abodes  of  peace  and  love 
New  strength  descended  from  above, 
To  cheer  me  like  the  patriarch's  dove. 
Now,  though  bereft  of  motion's  powers, 
I  pass  no  more  through  groves  and  flowers, 
But  moveless  waste  the  languid  hours, 
While  still  the  ethereal  spark  divine, 
And  memory's  ample  store  are  mine, 
I  neither  suffer  nor  repine, 
But  wait  serene  the  final  hour, 
Appointed  by  that  Gracious  Power, 
Who  while  those  vials  seemed  of  wrath, 
Shed  countless  blessings  on  my  path." 

No  important  events  varied  the  even  tenor  of 
Mrs.  Grant's  life  or  circumstances  till  the  year  1820, 
when  she  met  with  an  unfortunate  fall  which  pro- 
duced permanent  lameness,  so  that  ever  afterwards 
she  was  unable  to  move  about  without  crutches  or  a 
cane.  Five  years  later  she  received  from  the  British 
government  a  pension  of  /ioo,  in  consideration  of 
her  literary  talents,  which,  with  the  profits  of  her 


MEMOIR    OF    MRS.   GRANT  xxix 

writings,  the  emolument  from  her  pupils,  and  several 
legacies  from  friends,  already  mentioned,  rendered 
her  life  free  from  pecuniary  cares. 

In  1827,  her  long  series  of  domestic  sorrows  ter- 
minated in  the  loss  of  her  only  surviving  daughter 
Mary,  a  pure  and  lovely  character.  A  friend  who 
visited  her  at  this  period  wrote:  "It  was  delightful 
to  find  you  in  old  age,  after  such  severe  trials,  so 
supported  and  strengthened  by  the  power  of  God 
—  not  resigned  merely,  possessing  not  the  calm 
benevolence  of  age  alone ;  but  all  the  kinder  feelings 
in  their  freshness  and  flower,  which,  beautiful  as 
they  are  in  youth,  become  so  much  more  deeply 
interesting  when  we  know  that  care  and  sorrow  have 
had  no  power  to  wither  them,  and  that  they  will 
soon  form  part  of  that  crown  of  glory  which  fadeth 
not.  If  we  could  have  forgotten  the  blessings 
which  God  has  for  a  time  taken  to  himself  and  is 
reserving  for  you  in  his  keeping,  we  might  have 
thought  of  you  only  as  one, 

" '  Whose  cheerful  day  benevolence  endears, 
Whose  night  congratulating  conscience  cheers, 
The  general  favorite,  as  the  general  friend.'  " 

Mrs.  Grant  survived  her  daughter  nearly  eleven 
years,  and  to  the  last  her  sympathies  remained  un- 
chilled,  and  she  continued  to  find  pleasure  in  her 
conversational  parties,  as  well  as  in  receiving  visitors, 
those  from  America  being  always  most  warmly  wel- 
comed. Her  early  attachment  to  her  happy  home 
on  the  Hudson  remained  unshaken  to  the  end. 


xxx    MEMOIR    OF    MRS.    GRANT 

When  my  father  saw  her  for  the  last  time  she  was 
little  changed  in  appearance  from  what  her  portrait 
painted  eight  years  previous,  and  from  which  our 
engraving  is  taken,  represents  her,  and  was  busily 
knitting,  with  two  large  volumes  lying  open  before 
her  in  such  a  manner  that  she  could  turn  to  either 
and  read  without  interrupting  her  accustomed  work 
—  when  she  remarked,  "Willie,  I  should  not  feel 
any  sorrow  if  I  were  deprived  of  all  other  books. 
These  will  suffice  for  my  few  remaining  days." 
Mrs.  Grant's  companions  were  her  Bible  and  Shake- 
speare. To  the  very  end  of  her  fourscore  and  almost 
four  years,  she  was  constantly  adding  to  her  wide  field 
of  knowledge  as  a  means  of  usefulness  :  hers  was  the 
spirit  of  old  Chaucer's  Oxford  scholar,  — 
"  Gladly  wolde  he  lerne,  and  gladly  teche." 

Mrs.  Grant  died  at  her  residence  in  Manor  Place, 
Edinburgh,  November  7,  1838,  retaining  her  facul- 
ties unimpaired  to  the  last,  and  so  gradually  did  her 
life  depart  that  it  may  truthfully  be  said  of  her  in 
the  words  of  the  poet : 

"Of  no  distemper,  of  no  blast  she  died, 

But  fell  like  Autumn  fruit,  that  mellow'd  long; 
Even  wonder' d  at  because  she  dropt  no  sooner. 
Fate  seemed  to  wind  her  up  for  fourscore  years  ; 
Yet  freshly  ran  she  on  four  summers  more, 
Till,  like  a  clock  worn  out  in  eating  time, 
The  wheels  of  weary  life  at  last  stood  still." 

In  a  letter  announcing  Mrs.  Grant's  death  to  my 
father,  her  son  says :  "  My  mother  was  entirely 


MEMOIR    OF    MRS.    GRANT    xxxi 

exempted  from  pain  or  suffering  of  any  kind,  bodily 
or  mental,  and  she  at  last  appeared  to  expire  in  a 
gentle  slumber,  leaving  her  features  in  the  sweetest 
composure  and  confirming  the  assurance  she  gave 
us  almost  to  the  last  that  she  suffered  no  pain. 
Her  calmness  and  tranquillity  in  the  prospect  of 
death  were  what  might  have  been  expected  from 
her  firm  and  blameless  life,  and  above  all  from 
her  humble  confidence  in  the  pardoning  mercy 
of  God  through  the  merits  of  our  great  Inter- 
cessor." 

Mrs.  Grant  was  buried  beneath  the  shadows  of 
the  stately  castle  of  Edinburgh,  in  what  is  known 
as  the  Auld  West  Kirk,  and  near  her  last  resting- 
place  is  the  grave  of  Thomas  DeQuincey.  From 
her  tombstone  we  copied  the  following  inscription : 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of 

Mrs.  Anne  Grant, 

Widow  of  the  Rev.  James  Grant  of  Laggan 

In  the  county  of  Inverness, 

Who  died  at  Edinburgh, 

7th  November,  1838, 

aged  83. 
Endowed  with  the  extraordinary  energy  of  mind 

Her  writings 
Illustrate  the  associations  and  scenes 

Of  her  eventful  life. 

Her  eminent  virtues  adorned  its  relations, 

Her  Christian  faith  and  fortitude  sustained 

Its  many  severe  afflictions 

In  humble  submission  to 

The  Will  of  God. 


xxxii    MEMOIR    OF    MRS.    GRANT 

Her  numerous  family  of  children, 

for  whom  she  made 

Most  meritorious  and  successful  exertions, 

was  by  the  will  of  a  mysterious  providence 

All  cut  off  before  herself 

except  him  who  has  made 

This  Memorial 
Of  his  love  and  veneration. 

The  brilliant  literary  galaxy  with  glorious  Sir 
Walter  for  its  brightest  star,  which  cast  its  splendor 
over  the  beautiful  city  of  Edinburgh  were  almost 
all  included  among  Mrs.  Grant's  friends  and  ac- 
quaintances, and  many  of  the  group  were  frequent 
visitors  at  her  house.  There  also  were  to  be  met 
most  of  the  educated  Americans  worth  knowing, 
who  passed  through  that  famous  city  during  more 
than  a  quarter  of  a  century  that  the  Northern 
Athens  was  Mrs.  Grant's  place  of  residence.  Many 
of  the  latter  became  her  attached  friends  and  cor- 
respondents, as  will  be  seen  by  the  letters  included 
in  the  appendix  to  this  volume.  Joanna  Baillie, 
Southey,  Wordsworth,  Mrs.  Hemans,  the  "  sublime 
Mr.  Hayley,"  as  Thackeray  calls  him,  and  Camp- 
bell were  also  among  her  correspondents.  "Your 
good  old  godmother,"  said  Washington  Irving, 
"  was  a  great  Tory,  but  always  gave  Americans  a 
cordial  welcome,"  and  dear  Dr.  "  Rab "  Brown 
remarked  at  our  last  meeting  in  Edinburgh,  "  Mrs. 
Grant  was  one  of  the  literary  boasts  of  our  city, 
universally  known  and  respected." 


MEMOIR    OF    MRS.    GRANT   xxxiii 

"  Mrs.  Grant,"  remarks  Lord  Cockburn,1  one 
of  her  Scottish  contemporaries,  "was  a  tall  dark 
woman  of  very  considerable  intellect,  great  spirit, 
and  the  warmest  benevolence.  Her  love  of  in- 
dividual whigs,  particularly  of  Jeffrey,  in  spite  of 
her  amusing  horror  of  their  principles,  was  honor- 
able to  the  heart.  She  was  always  under  the  in- 
fluence of  an  affectionate  and  delightful  enthusiasm, 
which,  unquenched  by  time  or  sorrow,  survived  the 
wreck  of  many  domestic  attachments  and  shed  a 
glow  over  the  close  of  a  very  protracted  life.  Both 
she  and  Mrs.  Hamilton2  were  remarkable  for  the 
success  of  their  literary  conversational  gatherings. 
Their  evening  parties  had  the  greater  merit  from 
the  smallness  of  their  houses  and  of  their  means." 

At  the  age  of  three  score  and  ten  Mrs.  Grant 
began  a  sketch  of  her  life,  which  contains  a  rapid 
view  of  the  principal  incidents  of  her  career  from 
her  birth  down  to  1806,  leaving  the  story  of  the 
last  thirty  years  of  her  long  and  uneventful  life  to 
be  told  by  another.  This  was  lovingly  done  by 
her  only  surviving  child,  John  P.  Grant,  W.  S.,3 
who  in  1 844  issued  a  collection  of  her  letters  with 
a  memoir,  in  three  volumes.  Revised  editions  of 
this  delightful  work  appeared  in  1845  an^  1853, 

1  "  Memorials  of  His  Time,"  by  Henry  Cockburn,  London,  1856. 

2  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Hamilton,  author  of  "  The  Cottagers  of  Glen- 
burnie." 

8  Mr.  Grant  died  December  15,  1870,  leaving  a  widow  and  four 
children,  two  of  whom  were  sons  in  the  service  of  the  British  Govern- 
ment.     Mrs.  J.  P.  Grant  died  in  1893,  and  their  son  Walter  in  1897. 
VOL.  i.— 3 


xxxiv  MEMOIR    OF    MRS.    GRANT 

also  from  the  press  of  the  Longmans.  A  writer 
who  was  well  acquainted  with  Mrs.  Grant,  remarks 
in  a  notice  of  the  work,  that  "  she  was  a  woman  of 
extraordinary  good  sense,  and  of  uncommon  powers 
of  mind  ;  whose  letters,  embracing  a  wide  variety  of 
subjects,  are  as  truly  valuable  as  those  of  any  other 
writer,  and  likely  to  be  of  as  permanent  interest, 
and  to  afford  as  lasting  gratification  ;  but  especially 
of  a  woman  of  great  strength  of  character,  formed 
by  religious  principle  and  penetrated  by  religious 
sentiment,  the  vital  principle  of  whose  moral  being 
was  faith  in  God  and  immortality,  whose  sympathies 
were  warm  and  diffusive,  and  who  was  full  of  dis- 
interested kindness." 

We  would  gladly  quote  several  passages  from 
unpublished  letters  in  our  possession  addressed  to 
the  late  William  Wilson  and  his  wife,  by  Mrs. 
Grant,  who  gave  her  husband's  name  to  their  eldest 
son,  and  also  some  marked  extracts  from  the  pub- 
lished correspondence ;  but  as  the  chorus  to  "  Henry 
the  Fifth"  remarks  —  "  time,  numbers  and  due  course 
of  things  cannot  be  here  presented."  Two  good 
stories,  however,  we  must  quote,  one  of  a  very  hand- 
some and  fashionable  young  gentleman  whom  Mrs. 
Grant  did  not  know,  who  crossed  a  crowded  draw- 
ing-room, seized  her  hand  and  kissed  it,  "  thirty 
years  and  upwards,"  she  says,  "  after  anybody  had 
thought  of  kissing  my  hand,"  and  expressed  to  her 
the  feeling  which  her  poem,  "  The  Highlanders," 
had  awakened  in  him.  The  young  stranger  proved 


MEMOIR    OF   MRS.    GRANT    xxxv 

to  be  Colonel  D'Este,  son  of  the  Duke  of  Sussex  by 
his  marriage  with  Lady  Augusta  Murray.  Mrs. 
Grant  continues,  "  I  must  not  omit  an  anecdote 
better  than  my  own  about  kissing.  A  young  lady 
from  England,  very  ambitious  of  distinction  and 
thinking  the  outrageous  admiration  of  genius  was 
nearly  as  good  as  the  possession  of  it,  was  presented 
to  Sir  Walter  Scott,  and  had  very  nearly  gone 
through  the  regular  form  of  swooning  sensibility  on 
the  occasion.  Being  afterwards  introduced  to  the 
author,  Henry  Mackenzie,  she  bore  it  better  and 
kissed  his  hand  in  admiring  veneration.  It  is  worth 
telling  for  the  sake  of  Mr.  Scott's  comment.  He 
said,  c  did  you  ever  hear  the  like  of  that  English 
lass,  to  faint  at  the  sight  of  a  cripple  clerk  of  session 
and  kiss  the  dry  withered  hand  of  an  old  tax- 
gatherer.'  "l 

We  cannot  better  conclude  this  brief  memorial 
of  Mrs.  Grant  than  with  the  words  of  Sir  Walter 
Scott,  who  thus  characterizes  her  productions :  "  Her 
literary  works,  although  composed  amidst  misfor- 
tune and  privation,  are  written  at  once  with  sim- 
plicity and  force,  and  uniformly  bear  the  stamp  of 
a  virtuous  and  courageous  mind,  recommending  to 
the  reader  that  patience  and  fortitude  which  the 
writer  herself  practised  in  such  an  eminent  degree. 
Her  writings,  deservedly  popular  in  her  own  coun- 
try, derive  their  success  from  the  happy  manner  in 

1  Mr.  Mackenzie  held  the  office  of  comptroller  of  taxes  for  Scot- 
land. 


xxxvi    MEMOIR    OF    MRS.    GRANT 

which,  addressing  themselves  to  the  national  pride 
of  the  Scottish  people,  they  breathe  a  spirit  at  once 
of  patriotism  and  of  that  candor  which  renders 
patriotism  unselfish  and  liberal.  We  have  no  hesi- 
tation in  attesting  our  belief  that  Mrs.  Grant's  writ- 
ings have  produced  a  strong  and  salutary  effect 
upon  her  countrymen,  who  not  only  found  recorded 
in  them  much  of  national  history  and  antiquities 
which  would  otherwise  have  been  forgotten ;  but 
found  them  combined  with  the  soundest  and  best 
lessons  of  virtue  and  morality." 

JAS.  GRANT  WILSON. 

NEW  YORK,  September,  1901. 


f/i 


AN  EARLY  PORTRAIT  OF  MRS.  GRANT 


TO  THE    RIGHT    HONORABLE 
SIR   WILLIAM    GRANT,    Knt. 

Master  of  the  Rolls 
SIR; 

IT  is  very  probable  that  the  friends,  by  whose 
solicitations  I  was  induced  to  arrange  in  the 
following  pages  my  early  recollections,  studied 
more  the  amusement  I  should  derive  from  executing 
this  task,  than  any  pleasure  they  could  expect  from 
its  completion. 

The  principal  object  of  this  work  is  to  record  the 
few  incidents,  and  the  many  virtues,  which  diversi- 
fied and  distinguished  the  life  of  a  most  valued 
friend.  Though  no  manners  could  be  more  simple, 
no  notions  more  primitive  than  those  which  pre- 
vailed among  her  associates,  the  stamp  of  originality 
with  which  they  were  marked,  and  the  peculiar  cir- 
cumstances in  which  they  stood,  both  with  regard  to 
my  friend,  and  the  infant  society  to  which  they  be- 
longed, will,  I  flatter  myself,  give  an  interest  with 
reflecting  minds,  even  to  this  desultory  narrative  ; 
and  the  miscellany  of  description,  observation,  and 
detail,  which  it  involves. 

If  truth  both  of  feeling  and  narration,  which  are 
its  only  merits,  prove  a  sufficient  counterbalance 
to  carelessness,  laxity,  and  incoherence  of  style,  its 


xxxviii  INSCRIPTION 

prominent  faults,  I  may  venture  to  inrite  you,  when 
you  unbend  from  the  useful  and  honorable  labors 
to  which  your  valuable  time  is  devoted,  to  trace 
this  feeble  delineation  of  an  excellent  though  un- 
embellished  character ;  and  of  the  rapid  pace  with 
which  an  infant  society  has  urged  on  its  progress 
from  virtuous  simplicity  to  the  dangerous  "  knowl- 
edge of  good  and  evil,"  from  tremulous  imbecility 
to  self-sufficient  independence. 

To  be  faithful,  a  delineation  must  necessarily  be 
minute.  Yet  if  this  sketch,  with  all  its  imperfec- 
tions, be  honored  by  your  indulgent  perusal,  such 
condescension  of  time  and  talent  must  certainly  be 
admired,  and  may  perhaps  be  imitated  by  others. 
I  am,  Sir,  very  respectfully, 

Your  faithful  humble  servant, 

THE  AUTHOR. 
LONDON,  October^  1808. 


PART     ONE 


MEMOIRS 

OF 

AN   AMERICAN    LADY 

Introduction 

To , 

DEAR  SIR, 

OTHERS  as  well  as  you  have  expressed  a 
wish  to  see  a  memoir  of  my  earliest  and 
most  valuable  friend. 

To  gratify  you  and  them  I  feel  many  induce- 
ments, and  see  many  objections. 

To  comply  with  any  wish  of  yours  is  one  strong 
inducement. 

To  please  myself  with  the  recollection  of  past 
happiness  and  departed  worth  is  another;  and  to 
benefit  those  into  whose  hands  this  imperfect  sketch 
may  fall,  is  a  third.  For  the  authentic  record  of 
an  exemplary  life,  though  delivered  in  the  most 
unadorned  manner,  or  even  degraded  by  poverty 
of  style,  or  uncouthness  of  narration,  has  an  at- 
traction for  the  uncorrupted  mind. 

It  is  the  rare  lot  of  some  exalted  characters,  by 
the  united  power  of  virtue  and  of  talents,  to  soar 
above  their  fellow-mortals,  and  leave  a  luminous 


40  MEMOIRS    OF 

track  behind,  on  which  successive  ages  gaze  with 
wonder  and  delight. 

But  the  sweet  influence  of  these  benign  stars,  that 
now  and  then  enlighten  the  page  of  history,  is 
partial  and  unfrequent. 

They  to  whom  the  most  important  parts  on  the 
stage  of  life  are  allotted,  if  possessed  of  abilities 
undirected  by  virtue,  are  too  often 

"Wise  to  no  purpose,  artful  to  no  end," 

that  is  really  good  and  desirable. 

They,  again,  where  virtue  is  not  supported  by 
wisdom,  are  often,  with  the  best  intentions,  made 
subservient  to  the  short-sighted  craft  of  the  artful 
and  designing.  Hence,  though  we  may  be  at  times 
dazzled  with  the  blaze  of  heroic  achievement,  or 
contemplate  with  a  purer  satisfaction  those  "  awful 
fathers  of  mankind,"  by  whom  nations  were  civil- 
ized, equitable  dominion  established,  or  liberty 
restored  :  yet,  after  all,  the  crimes  and  miseries  of 
mankind  form  such  prominent  features  of  the  his- 
tory of  every  country,  that  humanity  sickens  at  the 
retrospect,  and  misanthropy  finds  an  excuse  amidst 
the  laurels  of  the  hero,  and  the  deep-laid  schemes 
of  the  politician  : 

"  And  yet  this  partial  view  of  things 
Is  surely  not  the  best.' '  —  Burns. 

Where  shall  we  seek  the  antidote  to  this  chilling 
gloom  left  on  the  mind  by  these  bustling  intricate 
scenes,  where  the  best  characters,  goaded  on  by 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         41 

furious  factions  or  dire  necessity,  become  involved 
in  crimes  that  their  souls  abhor  ? 

It  is  the  contemplation  of  the  peaceful  virtues  in 
the  genial  atmosphere  of  private  life,  that  can  best 
reconcile  us  to  our  nature,  and  quiet  the  turbulent 
emotions  excited  by 

"  The  madness  of  the  crowd." 

But  vice,  folly,  and  vanity  are  so  noisy,  so  restless, 
so  ready  to  rush  into  public  view,  and  so  adapted 
to  afford  food  for  malevolent  curiosity,  that  the 
small  still  voice  of  virtue,  active  in  its  own  sphere, 
but  unwilling  to  quit  it,  is  drowned  in  their  tumult. 
This  is  a  remedy,  however, 

"  Not  obvious,  not  obtrusive." 

If  we  would  counteract  the  baleful  influence  of 
public  vice  by  the  contemplation  of  private  worth, 
we  must  penetrate  into  its  retreats,  and  not  be  de- 
terred from  attending  to  its  simple  details  by  the 
want  of  that  glare  and  bustle  with  which  a  fictitious 
or  artificial  character  is  generally  surrounded. 

But  in  this  wide  field  of  speculation  one  might 
wander  out  of  sight  of  the  original  subject.  Let  me 
then  resume  it,  and  return  to  my  objections.  Of 
these  the  first  and  greatest  is  the  dread  of  being  in- 
accurate. Embellished  facts,  a  mixture  of  truth  and 
fiction,  or  what  we  sometimes  meet  with,  a  fictitious 
superstructure  built  on  a  foundation  of  reality,  would 
be  detestable  on  the  score  of  bad  taste,  though  no 
moral  sense  were  concerned  or  consulted.  'Tis 


42  MEMOIRS    OF 

walking  on  a  river  half  frozen  that  betrays  your 
footing  every  moment.  By  these  repulsive  artifices 
no  person  of  real  discernment  is  for  a  moment  im- 
posed upon.  You  do  not  know  exactly  which  part 
of  the  narrative  is  false  ;  but  you  are  sure  it  is  not 
all  true,  and  therefore  distrust  what  is  genuine, 
where  it  occurs.  For  this  reason  a  fiction,  happily 
told,  takes  a  greater  hold  of  the  mind  than  a  narra- 
tive of  facts,  evidently  embellished  and  interwoven 
with  inventions. 

I  do  not  mean  to  discredit  my  own  veracity.  I 
certainly  have  no  intention  to  relate  anything  that 
is  not  true.  Yet  in  the  dim  distance  of  near  forty 
years,1  unassisted  by  written  memorials,  shall  I  not 
mistake  dates,  misplace  facts,  and  omit  circumstances 
that  form  essential  links  in  the  chain  of  narration  ? 
Thirty  years  since,  when  I  expressed  a  wish  to  do 
what  I  am  now  about  to  attempt,  how  differently 
should  I  have  executed  it.  A  warm  heart,  a  vivid 
imagination,  and  a  tenacious  memory,  were  then  all 
filled  with  a  theme  which  I  could  not  touch  with- 
out kindling  into  an  enthusiasm,  sacred  at  once  to 
virtue  and  to  friendship.  Venerated  friend  of  my 
youth,  my  guide,  and  my  instructress,  are  then  the 
dregs  of  an  enfeebled  mind,  the  worn  affections  of  a 
wounded  heart,  the  imperfect  efforts  of  a  decaying 

1  It  will  have  been  seen  by  the  Memoir  that  Mrs.  Grant  was  born 
in  1755,  came  to  America  in  1757,  and  returned  to  Scotland  in  1768, 
at  the  age  of  13;  and  that  she  wrote  this  work  in  1808,  at  the  age 
of  53. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         43 

memory,  all  that  remain  to  consecrate  thy  remem- 
brance, to  make  known  thy  worth,  and  to  lay  on  thy 
tomb  the  offering  of  gratitude  ? 

My  friend's  life,  besides  being  mostly  passed  in 
unruffled  peace  and  prosperity,  affords  few  of  those 
vicissitudes  which  astonish  and  amuse.  It  is  from 
her  relations,  to  those  with  whom  her  active  benevo- 
lence connected  her,  that  the  chief  interest  of  her 
story  (if  story  it  may  be  called)  arises.  This  in- 
cludes that  of  many  persons,  obscure  indeed  but  for 
the  light  which  her  regard  and  beneficence  reflected 
upon  them.  Yet  without  those  subordinate  persons 
in  the  drama,  the  action  of  human  life,  especially 
such  a  life  as  hers,  cannot  be  carried  on.  Those 
can  neither  appear  with  grace,  nor  be  omitted  with 
propriety.  Then,  remote  and  retired  as  her  situa- 
tion was,  the  variety  of  nations  and  characters,  of 
tongues  and  of  complexions,  with  which  her  public 
spirit  and  private  benevolence  connected  her,  might 
appear  wonderful  to  those  unacquainted  with  the 
country  and  the  times  in  which  she  lived  ;  without 
a  pretty  distinct  view  of  which  my  narrative  would 
be  unintelligible.  I  must  be  excused,  too,  for  dwell- 
ing, at  times,  on  the  recollection  of  a  state  of  society 
so  peculiar,  so  utterly  dissimilar  to  any  other  that  I 
have  heard,  or  read  of,  that  it  exhibits  human  nature 
in  a  new  aspect,  and  is  so  far  an  object  of  rational 
curiosity,  as  well  as  a  kind  of  phenomenon  in  the 
history  of  colonization.  I  forewarn  the  reader  not 
to  look  for  lucid  order  in  the  narration,  or  intimate 


44  MEMOIRS 

connection  between  its  parts.  I  have  no  authorities 
to  refer  to,  no  coeval  witnesses  of  facts  to  consult. 
In  regard  to  the  companions  of  my  youth,  I  sit  like 
the  "Voice  of  Cona,"  alone  on  the  heath  ;  and,  like 
him  too,  must  muse  in  silence,  till  at  intervals  the 
"light  of  my  soul  arises,"  before  I  can  call  attention 
to  "  a  tale  of  other  times,"  in  which  several  particu- 
lars relative  to  my  friend's  ancestry  must  necessarily 
be  included. 


Chapter  I 

ORIGIN  OF  THE  SETTLEMENT   OF  ALBANY 

IT  is  well  known  that  the  province  of  New  York, 
anciently  called  Munhattoes1  by  the  Indians, 
was  originally  settled  by  a  Dutch  colony,  which 
came  from  Holland,  I  think,  in  the  time  of  Charles 
the  Second.  Finding  the  country  to  their  liking, 
they  were  followed  by  others  more  wealthy  and  bet- 
ter informed.  Indeed  some  of  the  early  emigrants 
appear  to  have  been  people  respectable  both  from 
their  family  and  character.  Of  these  the  principal 
were  the  Cuylers,  the  Schuylers,  the  Rensselaers,  the 
DeLanceys,  the  Cortlandts,  the  Timbrooks,2  and 

1  It  is  not  designed  to  notice  for  the  purpose  of  rectifying  or  ex- 
plaining all  the  discrepancies  of  nomenclature,  chronology,  and  other 
matters,  which  Mrs.  Grant,  as  she  fears  on  the  previous  page  she 
might,  has  fallen  into  in  these  pages.  Not  a  few  of  them  were  com- 
mon to  the  time  she  describes,  but  more  recent  investigations  and  dis- 
coveries have  gradually  developed  a  more  correct  knowledge. 

The  island  of  Manhattan,  we  learn  from  the  Albany  Records,  was 
so  called  after  the  ancient  name  of  the  tribe  of  savages  among  whom 
the  Dutch  first  settled  themselves,  but  the  appellation  did  not  extend 
to  the  province. 

3  Dirk  Wesselse  Ten  Broeck,  the  first  of  the  name  mentioned  in 
the  records,  was  known  in  public  life  as  Dirk  Wessels.  He  was  the 
first  acting  Recorder  under  the  charter  of  Albany,  mayor  1696-97, 
and  for  many  years  a  leading  man  in  the  colony.  He  died  in  1717. 
His  grandson,  Dirk  Ten  Broeck,  was  mayor  1746-47,  Abraham,  a 
son  of  the  last,  was  mayor  1779-83,  and  again  1796-98,  and  a  general 


46  MEMOIRS    OF 

the  Beekmans,  who  have  all  of  them  been  since  dis- 
tinguished in  the  late  civil  wars,  either  as  persecuted 
loyalists  or  triumphant  patriots.  I  do  not  precisely 
recollect  the  motives  assigned  for  the  voluntary  exile 
of  persons  who  were  evidently  in  circumstances  that 
might  admit  of  their  living  in  comfort  at  home,  but 
am  apt  to  think  that  the  early  settlers  were  those 
who  adhered  to  the  interest  of  the  stadtholder's 
family,  a  party  which,  during  the  minority  of  King 
William,  was  almost  persecuted  by  the  high  repub- 
licans. They  who  came  over  at  a  later  period 
probably  belonged  to  the  party  which  opposed  the 
stadtholder,  and  which  was  then  in  its  turn  depressed. 
These  persons  afterwards  distinguished  themselves 
by  an  aversion,  almost  amounting  to  antipathy,  to 
the  British  army,  and  indeed  to  all  the  British  col- 
onists. Their  notions  were  mean  and  contracted ; 
their  manners  blunt  and  austere ;  and  their  habits 
sordid  and  parsimonious  ;  as  the  settlement  began 
to  extend  they  retired,  and  formed  new  establish- 
ments, afterwards  called  Fishkill,  Esopus,  etc. 

To  the  Schuylers,  Cuylers,  DeLanceys,  Van  Cort- 
landts,  and  a  few  others,  this  description  did  by  no 
means  apply.  Yet  they  too  bore  about  them  the 
tokens  of  former  affluence  and  respectability,  such  as 
family  plate,  portraits  of  their  ancestors  executed  in 
a  superior  style,  and  great  numbers  of  original  paint- 

of  brigade  in  the  Revolutionary  War.  His  wife  was  Elizabeth,  the  only 
daughter  of  the  sixth  patroon  of  Rensselaerwyck,  and  aunt  of  the  last, 
Patroon  Stephen  Van  Rensselaer. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        47 

ings,  some  of  which  were  much  admired  by  ac- 
knowledged judges.  Of  these  the  subjects  were 
generally  taken  from  sacred  history. 

I  do  not  recollect  the  exact  time,  but  think  it 
was  during  the  last  years  of  Charles  the  Second,  that 
a  settlement  we  then  possessed  at  Surinam  was  ex- 
changed for  the  extensive  (indeed  at  that  time  bound- 
less) province  of  Munhattoes,1  which,  in  compliment 
to  the  then  heir  apparent,  was  called  New  York. 
Of  the  part  of  that  country  then  explored,  the  most 
fertile  and  beautiful  was  situated  far  inland,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Hudson  river.  This  copious  and 
majestic  stream  is  navigable  one  hundred  and 
seventy  miles  from  its  mouth  for  vessels  of  sixty  or 
seventy  tons  burden.2  Near  the  head  of  it,  as  a  kind 
of  barrier  against  the  natives,  and  a  central  resort 
for  traders,  the  foundation  was  laid  of  a  town  called 

1  Surinam  was  awarded  to  the  Dutch  at  the  peace  of  Westminster, 
after  various  reverses,  while  New  York,  for  which  it  was  exchanged, 
remained  quietly  in  the  hands  of  the  English.  The  two  nations  how- 
ever continued  for  more  than  a  century  to  make  Guiana  a  point  of 
attack  in  time  of  war. 

a,  The  tonnage  of  the  ancient  sloops  has  been  somewhat  increased. 
The  sloop  in  which  Capt.  Stewart  Dean  sailed  from  Albany  to  China 
in  1785,  was  80  tons.  The  government  made  improvements  in  the 
navigation  of  the  river  after  Albany  became  a  port  of  entry,  so  that 
schooners  of  200  tons  were  enabled  to  reach  the  city,  and  the  Roches- 
ter steam  boat,  the  largest  vessel  licensed  at  this  port  in  1836,  of  nearly 
500  tons,  made  trips  at  low  water.  At  a  later  day  the  Isaac  Newton 
of  1400  tons  was  put  on  the  river,  and  renewed  efforts  to  increase  the 
upward  flow  of  the  tide,  in  1866,  added  nearly  two  feet  to  the  sur- 
face. The  altitude  of  Albany  being  but  six  or  eight  feet  above  that 
of  New  York,  there  are  at  all  times  three  tides  in  the  river,  so  great  is 
the  distance  they  have  to  ascend  before  reaching  their  utmost  limit. 


48  MEMOIRS    OF 

Oranienburgh,1    and   afterwards,     by    the     British, 
Albany. 

After  the  necessary  precaution  of  erecting  a  small 
stockaded  fort  for  security,  a  church  was  built  in 
the  centre  of  the  intended  town,  which  served  in 
different  respects  as  a  kind  of  land-mark.  A  gentle- 
man of  the  name  of  Van  Rensselaer  was  considered 
as  in  a  manner  lord  paramount  of  this  city,  a  pre- 
eminence which  his  successor  still  enjoys,  both  with 
regard  to  the  town  and  the  lands  adjacent.  The 
original  proprietor  having  obtained  from  the  high 
and  mighty  states  a  grant  of  lands,  which,  beginning 
at  the  church,  was  twenty-four  by  forty-eight  miles 
in  size,  forming  a  magnificent  manor,  including  lands 
not  only  of  the  best  quality  of  any  in  the  province, 
but  the  most  happily  situated  both  for  the  purpose 
of  commerce  and  agriculture.  This  great  pro- 
prietor was  looked  up  to  as  much  as  republicans  in 
a  new  country  could  be  supposed  to  look  up  to  any 
one.  He  was  called  the  patroon,  a  designation 
tantamount  to  lord  of  the  manor.  Yet  in  the  dis- 
tribution of  these  lands,  the  sturdy  Belgian  spirit 
of  independence  set  limits  to  the  power  and  profits 
of  this  lord  of  the  forests,  as  he  might  then  be 
called.  None  of  these  lands  were  either  sold  or 
alienated.  The  more  wealthy  settlers,  as  the 

1  It  does  not  appear  what  name  the  Dutch  may  have  given  the 
locality.  It  was  often  alluded  to  as  the  Fuyck.  Oranje  is  Dutch,  but 
Fort  Orange  is  English.  I  have  not  seen  it  elsewhere  called  Oranien- 
burgh, although  that  would  be  a  proper  name  —  the  city  or  fortress  of 
Orange. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         49 

Schuylers,1  Cuylers,  etc.,  took  very  extensive  leases 
of  the  fertile  plains  along  the  river,  with  boundless 
liberty  of  woods  and  pasturage,  to  the  westward. 
The  terms  were,  that  the  lease  should  hold  while 
water  runs  and  grass  grows,  and  the  landlord  to 
receive  the  tenth  sheaf  of  every  kind  of  grain  the 
ground  produces.  Thus  ever  accommodating  the 
rent  to  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  and  changes  of  the 
seasons,  you  may  suppose  the  tenants  did  not 
greatly  fear  a  landlord,  who  could  neither  remove 
them,  nor  heighten  their  rents.  Thus,  without  the 
pride  of  property,  they  had  all  the  independence  of 
proprietors.  They  were  like  German  princes,  who, 
after  furnishing  their  contingent  to  the  emperor, 
might  make  war  on  him  when  they  chose.  Besides 
the  profits  (yearly  augmenting)  which  the  patroon 
drew  from  his  ample  possessions,  he  held  in  his 
own  hands  an  extensive  and  fruitful  demesne.  Yet 
preserving  in  a  great  measure  the  simple  and  frugal 
habits  of  his  ancestors,  his  wealth  was  not  an 
object  of  envy,  nor  a  source  of  corruption  to  his 
fellow-citizens.  To  the  northward  of  these  bounds, 
and  at  the  southern  extremity  also,  the  Schuylers 
and  Cuylers  held  lands  of  their  own.  But  the 
only  other  great  landholders  I  remember,  holding 
their  land  by  those  original  tenures,  were  Phillips 

1  Philip  (Pietersen)  Schuyler  bought  his  farm  of  several  hundred 
acres  and  a  large  island  about  four  miles  north  of  Albany  at  a  cost  of 
8,000  florins  ;   and  in  recognition  of  the  patroon' s  right  he  gave  40 
bushels  of  wheat  yearly. 
VOL.  I.  — •  4 


50  MEMOIRS 

and  Cortlandt ;  their  lands  lay  also  on  the  Hudson's 
river,  half  way  down  to  New  York,  and  were  de- 
nominated Phillip's  and  Cortlandt's  manors.1  At 
the  time  of  the  first  settling  of  the  country  the 
Indians  were  numerous  and  powerful  all  along  the 
river ;  but  they  consisted  of  wandering  families,  who, 
though  they  affixed  some  sort  of  local  boundaries 
for  distinguishing  the  hunting  grounds  of  each  tribe, 
could  not  be  said  to  inhabit  any  place.  The  cool 
and  crafty  Dutch  governors,  being  unable  to  cope 
with  them  in  arms,  purchased  from  them  the  most 
valuable  tracts  for  some  petty  consideration.  They 
affected  great  friendship  for  them  ;  and,  while  con- 
scious of  their  own  weakness,  were  careful  not  to 
provoke  hostilities ;  and  they,  silently  and  insen- 
sibly, established  themselves  to  the  west. 

1  Philipse,  or  Philipsen,  a  carpenter  by  trade,  who  founded  a 
wealthy  Dutch  family.  In  1674  a  valuation  of  the  estates  of  the  prin- 
cipal inhabitants  of  New  York  was  made,  when  that  of  Frederick 
Philipsen,  the  highest,  was  valued  at  80,000  florins.  A  portion  of 
this  manor  was  sequestered  by  reason  of  the  defection  of  the  owner  in 
the  Revolution,  who  fled  to  England,  and  was  allowed  by  that  govern- 
ment about  three  hundred  thousand  dollars  as  compensation  for  his 
loss.  The  whole  of  the  original  property  was  at  a  later  day  estimated 
at  over  three  millions  of  dollars.  The  Van  Cortlandt  manor  is  still  in  a 
measure  intact,  and  known  as  such. 


Chapter  II 


THE   FIVE   NATIONS— JOHN   AND   PHILIP 
SCHUYLER 

ON  the  Mohawk  river,  about  forty  miles  distant 
from  Albany,  there  subsisted  a  confederacy 
of  Indian  tribes,  of  a  very  different  character  from 
those  mentioned  in  the  preceding  chapter;  too 
sagacious  to  be  deceived,  and  too  powerful  to  be 
eradicated.  These  were  the  once  renowned  Five 
Nations,  whom  any  one,  who  remembers  them 
while  they  were  a  people,  will  hesitate  to  call  sav- 
ages. Were  they  savages  who  had  fixed  habitations  ; 
who  cultivated  rich  fields ;  who  built  castles  (for  so 
they  called  their  not  incommodious  wooden  houses, 
surrounded  with  palisadoes) ;  who  planted  maize 
and  beans,  and  showed  considerable  ingenuity  in 
constructing  and  adorning  their  canoes,  arms,  and 
clothing  ?  They  who  had  wise  though  unwritten 
laws,  and  conducted  their  wars,  treaties,  and  alliances 
with  deep  and  sound  policy  ;  they  whose  eloquence 
was  bold,  nervous,  and  animated  ;  whose  language 
was  sonorous,  musical,  and  expressive  ;  who  pos- 
sessed generous  and  elevated  sentiments,  heroic  for- 
titude, and  unstained  probity  :  were  these  indeed 
savages?  The  difference 

"  Of  scent  the  headlong  lioness  between 
And  hound  sagacious,  on  the  tainted  green," 


52  MEMOIRS    OF 

is  not  greater  than  that  of  the  Mohawks  in  point  of 
civility  and  capacity,  from  other  American  tribes, 
among  whom,  indeed,  existed  a  far  greater  diversity 
of  character,  language,  etc.,  than  Europeans  seem  to 
be  aware  of.  This  little  tribute  to  the  memory  of  a 
people  who  have  been,  while  it  soothes  the  pensive 
recollections  of  the  writer,  is  not  so  foreign  to  the 
subject  as  it  may  at  first  appear.  So  much  of  the 
peace  and  safety  of  this  infant  community  depended 
on  the  friendship  and  alliance  of  these  generous 
tribes,  and  to  conciliate  and  retain  their  affections 
so  much  address  was  necessary,  that  common  char- 
acters were  unequal  to  the  task.  Minds  liberal  and 
upright,  like  those  I  am  about  to  describe,  could 
alone  excite  that  esteem,  and  preserve  that  confi- 
dence, which  were  essential  towards  retaining  the 
friendship  of  those  valuable  allies. 

From  the  time  of  the  great  rebellion,  so  many 
English  refugees  frequented  Holland,  that  the 
language  and  manners  of  our  country  became  famil- 
iar at  the  Hague,  particularly  among  the  stadt- 
holder's  party.  When  the  province  of  New  York 
fell  under  the  British  dominion,  it  became  necessary 
that  everybody  should  learn  our  language,  as  all 
public  business  was  carried  on  in  the  English  tongue, 
which  they  did  the  more  willingly,  as,  after  the  revo- 
lution, the  accession  of  the  stadtholder  to  the 
English  crown  very  much  reconciled  them  to  our 
government ;  still,  however,  the  English  was  a  kind 
of  court  language,  little  spoken,  and  imperfectly 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         53 

understood  in  the  interior.  Those  who  brought 
with  them  the  French  and  English  languages  soon 
acquired  a  sway  over  their  less  enlightened  fellow 
settlers.  Of  this  number  were  the  Schuylers  and 
Cuylers,  two  families  among  whom  intellect  of  the 
superior  kind  seemed  an  inheritance,  and  whose 
intelligence  and  liberality  of  mind,  fortified  by  well- 
grounded  principle,  carried  them  far  beyond  the 
petty  and  narrow  views  of  the  rest.  Habituated  at 
home  to  centre  all  wisdom  and  all  happiness  in 
commercial  advantages,  they  would  have  been  very 
ill  calculated  to  lay  the  foundation  of  an  infant  state 
in  a  country  that  afforded  plenty  and  content,  as 
the  reward  of  industry,  but  where  the  very  nature 
of  the  territory,  as  well  as  the  state  of  society,  pre- 
cluded great  pecuniary  acquisitions.  Their  object 
here  was  taming  savage  nature,  and  making  the 
boundless  wild  subservient  to  agricultural  purposes. 
Commercial  pursuits  were  a  distant  prospect ;  and 
before  they  became  of  consequence,  rural  habits  had 
greatly  changed  the  character  of  these  republicans. 
But  the  commercial  spirit,  inherent  in  all  true  Bata- 
vians,  only  slept  to  wake  again,  when  the  avidity  of 
gain  was  called  forth  by  the  temptation  of  bartering 
for  any  lucrative  commodity.  The  furs  of  the 
Indians  gave  this  occasion,  and  were  too  soon  made 
the  object  of  the  avidity  of  petty  traders.  To  the 
infant  settlement  at  Albany  the  consequences  of 
this  short-sighted  policy  might  have  proved  fatal, 
had  not  these  patriotic  leaders,  by  their  example 


54 


MEMOIRS    OF 


and  influence,  checked  for  a  while  such  illiberal  and 
dangerous  practices.  It  is  a  fact  singular  and  worth 
attending  to,  from  the  lesson  it  exhibits,  that  in  all 
our  distant  colonies  there  is  no  other  instance  where 
a  considerable  town  and  prosperous  settlement  has 
arisen  and  flourished,  in  peace  and  safety,  in  the 
midst  of  nations  disposed  and  often  provoked  to 
hostility  :  at  a  distance  from  the  protection  of  ships, 
and  from  the  only  fortified  city,  which,  always 
weakly  garrisoned,  was  little  fitted  to  awe  and  pro- 
tect the  whole  province.  Let  it  be  remembered 
that  the  distance  from  New  York  to  Albany  is  160 
miles;  and  that  in  the  intermediate  space,  at  the 
period  of  which  I  speak,  there  was  not  one  town  or 
fortified  place.  The  shadow  of  a  palisadoed  fort1 
which  then  existed  in  Albany,  was  occupied  by  a 
single  independent  company,  who  did  duty,  but 
were  dispersed  through  the  town,  working  at  various 
trades  ;  so  scarce  indeed  were  artizans  in  this  com- 
munity, that  a  tradesman  might  in  these  days  ask 
any  wages  he  chose. 

To  return  to  this  settlement,  which  evidently  owed 
its  security  to  the  wisdom  of  its  leaders,  who  always 
acted  on  the  simple  maxim  that  honesty  is  the  best 
policy ;  several  miles  north  from  Albany  a  consider- 
able possession,  called  the  Flats,  was  inhabited  by 

1  It  may  be  worth  noting  that  Captain  Massey,  who  commanded 
this  noneffective  company  for  many  years,  was  the  father  of  Mrs. 
Lenox,  an  inestimable  character,  well  known  for  her  literary  produc- 
tions, and  for  being  the  friend  and  protegee  of  Doctor  Johnson.  —  Mrs. 
Grant. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY 


55 


Colonel  Philip  Schuyler,1  one  of  the  most  enlight- 
ened men  in  the  province.  This  being  a  frontier, 
he  would  have  found  it  a  very  dangerous  situation 
had  he  not  been  a  person  of  singular  worth,  forti- 
tude, and  wisdom.  Were  I  not  afraid  of  tiring  my 
reader  with  a  detail  of  occurrences  which,  taking 
place  before  the  birth  of  my  friend,  might  seem 
irrelevant  to  the  present  purpose,  I  could  relate 
many  instances  almost  incredible,  of  the  power  of 
mind  displayed  by  this  gentleman  in  governing  the 
uninstructed  without  coercion  or  legal  right.  He 
possessed  this  species  of  power  in  no  common  de- 
gree ;  his  influence,  with  that  of  his  brother  John 
Schuyler,2  was  exerted  to  conciliate  the  wandering 
tribes  of  Indians;  and  by  fair  traffic,  for  he  too  was 
a  trader,  and  by  fair  liberal  dealing,  they  attained 
their  object.  They  also  strengthened  the  league 
already  formed  with  the  five  Mohawk  nations,  by 
procuring  for  them  some  assistance  against  their 
enemies,  the  Onondagoes  of  the  lakes.3 

1  Col.  Philip  Schuyler,  the  husband  of  the  American  Lady,  died 
about  four   years  before    Mrs.    Grant,   then    a   young   girl,    became 
acquainted  with  her.      She  doubtless  heard  the  name   Philip   repeated 
often,  and  that  of  Col.  Peter  Schuyler  who  had  died  more  than  thirty 
years  before,  comparatively  seldom.      Philip  had  become  fixed  in  her 
memory,  and  she  sometimes  uses  it  erroneously  instead  of  Peter,  as  in 
this  instance.      It  is  clear  from  what  follows  agreeing  with  historical 
facts,  that  Col.  Peter  Schuyler  is  meant. 

2  John  Schuyler  was  the  youngest  son  of  Philip  Schuyler,  the  an- 
cestor of  one  branch  of  the  Schuyler  family.      He  was  the  father  of  the 
American   Lady,  and  the  grandfather  of  General  Philip   Schuyler  of 
the  Revolution. 

8  The  Iroquois,    or   Five    Nations,    consisted   of  the    Mohawks, 


56  MEMOIRS    OF 

Queen  Anne  had  by  this  time  succeeded  to  the 
stadtholder.  The  gigantic  ambition  of  Louis  the 
Fourteenth  actuated  the  remotest  parts  of  his  ex- 
tensive dominions;  and  the  encroaching  spirit  of 
this  restless  nation  began  to  discover  itself  in  hos- 
tilities to  the  infant  colony.  A  motive  for  which 
could  scarce  be  discovered,  possessing  as  they  did 
already  much  more  territory  than  they  were  able  to 
occupy,  the  limits  of  which  were  undefined.1  But 
the  province  of  New  York  was  a  frontier ;  and,  as 
such,  a  kind  of  barrier  to  the  southern  colonies.  It 
began  also  to  compete  for  a  share  of  the  fur  trade, 
then  very  considerable,  before  the  beavers  were 
driven  back  from  their  original  haunts.  In  short, 
the  province  daily  rose  in  importance;  and  being  in 
a  great  measure  protected  by  the  Mohawk  tribes, 
the  policy  of  courting  their  alliance,  and  impressing 
their  minds  with  an  exalted  idea  of  the  power  and 
grandeur  of  the  British  empire,  became  obvious.  I 

Oneidas,  Onondagas,  Cayugas,  and  Senecas.  It  was  probably  the 
Hurons  that  Mrs.  Grant  had  in  mind  as  the  antagonists  of  the  New 
York  Indians. 

1  The  boundaries  of  farms  and  tracts  were  quite  indefinite,  and  as 
they  became  cultivated  all  traces  of  the  described  bounds  utterly  ceased 
to  be  distinguishable.  For  instance,  a  farm  now  in  the  heart  of  the 
city  of  Albany,  leased  by  the  patroon  to  Isaac  Casparse  (that  was 
Isaac  the  son  of  Caspar  Halenbeck),  is  thus  described  in  the  lease  : 
bounded  on  the  north  by  the  plain  and  the  hill,  on  the  east  by  the 
swamp,  on  the  south  by  the  Bever  kil,  and  on  the  west  by  the  woods. 
Nothing  now  remains  but  the  creek  to  mark  the  boundaries  of  this 
tract,  and  that  is  arched  over  and  used  as  a  sewer.  The  hill  was  long 
since  leveled,  the  swamp  filled  in  and  built  upon,  and  the  woods  cleared 
up,  and  the  area  occupied  by  streets  and  a  dense  population. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         57 

cannot  recollect  the  name  of  the  governor  at  this 
time ;  but  whoever  he  was,  he,  as  well  as  the  suc- 
ceeding ones,  visited  the  settlement  at  Albany,  to 
observe  its  wise  regulations,  and  growing  prosperity, 
and  to  learn  maxims  of  sound  policy  from  those 
whose  interests  and  happiness  were  daily  promoted 
by  the  practice  of  it. 


Chapter   III 

COLONEL  SCHUYLER    AND   FIVE   SACHEMS   VISIT 
ENGLAND  — THEIR  RECEPTION   AND   RETURN 

IT  was  thought  advisable  to  bring  over  some  of 
the  heads  of  the  tribes  to  England  to  attach 
them  to  that  country :  but  to  persuade  the  chiefs  of 
a  free  and  happy  people,  who  were  intelligent, 
sagacious,  and  aware  of  all  probable  dangers ;  who 
were  strangers  to  all  the  maritime  concerns,  and 
had  never  beheld  the  ocean ;  to  persuade  such  inde- 
pendent and  high-minded  warriors  to  forsake  the 
safety  and  enjoyments  of  their  own  country,  to 
encounter  the  perils  of  a  long  voyage,  and  trust 
themselves  among  entire  strangers,  and  this  merely 
to  bind  closer  an  alliance  with  the  sovereign  of  a 
distant  country  —  a  female  sovereign  too;  a  mode 
of  government  that  must  have  appeared  to  them 
very  incongruous ;  this  was  no  common  under- 
taking, nor  was  it  easy  to  induce  these  chiefs  to 
accede  to  the  proposal.  The  principal  motive  for 
urging  it  was  to  counteract  the  machinations  of  the 
French,  whose  emissaries  in  these  wild  regions  had 
even  then  begun  to  style  us,  in  effect,  a  nation  of 
shop-keepers ;  and  to  impress  the  tribes  dwelling  in 
their  boundaries  with  vast  ideas  of  the  power  and 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         59 

splendor  of  their  grand  monarque,  while  our  sover- 
eign, they  said,  ruled  over  a  petty  island,  and  was 
himself  a  trader.  To  counterwork  those  sugges- 
tions, it  was  thought  requisite  to  give  the  leaders  of 
the  nation  an  adequate  idea  of  our  power,  and  the 
magnificence  of  our  court.  The  chiefs  at  length 
consented,  on  this  only  condition,  that  their  brother 
Philip,1  who  never  told  a  lie,  or  spoke  without 
thinking,  should  accompany  them.  However  this 
gentleman's  wisdom  and  integrity  might  qualify 
him  for  this  employment,  it  by  no  means  suited  his 
placid  temper,  simple  manners,  and  habits  of  life,  at 

1  This  event  happening  nearly 
half  a  century  before  Mrs.  Grant 
was  born,  and  nearly  a  century 
before  this  work  was  written, 
"  unassisted  by  written  memo- 
rials," the  mistake  of  the  name 
of  Philip  for  Pieter  is  pardona- 
ble. It  was  Pieter,  however,  the 
eldest  son  of  Philip,  who  figured 
in  this  episode.  He  was  the  first 
mayor  of  Albany  in  1686,  and 
twenty-four  years  later,  in  1710, 
conducted  these  natives  to  Eng- 
land, arriving  there  in  the  time  of 
Queen  Anne  and  the  Spectator. 
On  this  occasion  his  full  length 
portrait  was  painted,  and  is  still 
preserved  among  his  descendants 
at  the  Flats,  an  engraving  of 
which  is  here  given,  and  some 
pleasant  allusions  are  made  to 
the  event  in  the  Spectator  of  that  Portrait  ofCo\.  Pieter  Schuyler,  painted 
time.  »n  England,  1710. 


60  MEMOIRS    OF 

once  pastoral  and  patriarchal,  to  travel  over  seas, 
visit  courts,  and  mingle  in  the  bustle  of  a  world,  the 
customs  of  which  were  become  foreign  to  those 
primitive  inhabitants  of  new  and  remote  regions. 
The  adventure,  however,  succeeded  beyond  his  ex- 
pectation ;  the  chiefs  were  pleased  with  the  attention 
paid  them,  and  with  the  mild  and  gracious  manners 
of  the  queen,  who  at  different  times  admitted  them 
to  her  presence.  With  the  good  Philip  she  had 
many  conversations,  and  made  him  some  valuable 
presents,  among  which,  I  think,  was  her  picture  ; 
but  this  with  many  others  was  lost,  in  a  manner 
which  will  appear  hereafter.  Colonel  Schuyler  too 
was  much  delighted  with  the  courteous  affability  of 
this  princess ;  she  offered  to  knight  him,  which  he 
respectfully,  but  positively  refused :  and  being 
pressed  to  assign  his  reasons,  he  said  he  had  broth- 
ers and  near  relations  in  humble  circumstances,  who, 
already  his  inferiors  in  property,  would  seem  as  it 
were  depressed  by  his  elevation :  and  though  it 
should  have  no  such  effect  on  his  mind,  it  might  be 
the  means  of  awakening  pride  or  vanity  in  the 
female  part  of  his  family.  He  returned,  however, 
in  triumph,  having  completely  succeeded  in  his  mis- 
sion. The  kings,  as  they  were  called  in  England, 
came  back  in  full  health,  deeply  impressed  with 
esteem  and  attachment  for  a  country  which  to  them 
appeared  the  centre  of  arts,  intelligence  and  wisdom  ; 
where  they  were  treated  with  kindness  and  respect ; 
and  neither  made  the  objects  of  perpetual  exhibition, 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         61 

nor  hurried  about  to  be  continually  distracted  with 
a  succession  of  splendid,  and  to  them  incompre- 
hensible sights,  the  quick  shifting  of  which  rather 
tends  to  harass  minds  which  have  enough  of  native 
strength  to  reflect  on  what  they  see,  without  know- 
ledge sufficient  to  comprehend  it.  It  is  to  this 
childish  and  injudicious  mode  of  treating  those  un- 
civilized beings,  this  mode  of  rather  extorting  from 
them  a  tribute  to  our  vanity,  than  taking  the  neces- 
sary pains  to  inform  and  improve  them,  that  the  ill 
success  of  all  such  experiments  since  have  been 
owing.  Instead  of  endeavoring  to  conciliate  them 
by  genuine  kindness,  and  by  gradually  and  gently 
unfolding  to  them  simple  and  useful  truths,  our 
manner  of  treating  them  seems  calculated  to  dazzle, 
oppress  and  degrade  them  with  a  display  of  our 
superior  luxuries  and  refinements :  which,  by  the 
elevated  and  selfdenied  Mohawk,  would  be  regarded 
as  unmanly  and  frivolous  objects,  and  which  the 
voluptuous  and  low-minded  Otaheitean  would  so 
far  relish,  that  the  privation  would  seem  intolerable, 
when  he  returned  to  his  hogs  and  his  cocoas.  Ex- 
cept such  as  have  been  previously  inoculated  (a 
precaution  which  voyagers  have  rarely  had  the  pru- 
dence or  humanity  to  take),  there  is  scarcely  an 
instance  of  savages  brought  to  Europe  that  have 
not  died  of  the  small-pox;  induced  either  by  the 
infection  to  which  they  are  exposed  from  the  indis- 
criminate crowds  drawn  about  them  or  the  altera- 
tion in  their  blood,  which  unusual  diet,  liquors, 


62 


MEMOIRS    OF 


close    air,    and    heated    rooms,    must    necessarily 
produce. 

The  presents  made  to  these  adventurous  war- 
riors were  judiciously  adapted  to  their  taste  and 
customs.  They  consisted  of  showy  habits,  of  which 
all  these  people  are  very  fond,  and  arms  made  pur- 
posely in  the  form  of  those  used  in  their  own  coun- 
try. It  was  the  fortune  of  the  writer  of  these 
memoirs,  more  than  thirty  years  after,  to  see  that 
great  warrior  and  faithful  ally  of  the  British  crown 
the  redoubted  King  Hendrick,  then  sovereign  of 
the  Five  Nations,  splendidly  arrayed  in  a  suit  of 
light  blue,  made  in  an  antique  mode,  and  trimmed 
with  broad  silver  lace ;  which  was  probably  an  heir- 
loom, in  the  family,  presented  to  his  father  by  his 
good  ally,  and  sister,  the  female  king  of  England.1 

1  King  Hendrick,  born 
1680,  killed  1755  at  the  battle 
of  Lake  George,  as  is  well 
known,  was  not  sovereign  of 
the  Five  Nations,  but  was  a 
chief  of  the  Mohawk  nation, 
who  had  been  invested  with 
the  title  of  king,  an  unusual 
term  for  a  leader  among  the 
Indians.  Possibly  it  was  an- 
other warrior  similarly  accou- 
tered  that  Mrs.  Grant  saw  at  a 
later  day  ;  for  although  King 
Hendrick  returned  with  such  a 
costume,  and  his  portrait  was 
painted  in  it  in  England  during 
his  visit,  he  had  been  a  short 
time  dead  when  Mrs.  Grant  arrived  in  the  country. 


King  Hendrick. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         63 

I  cannot  exactly  say  how  long  Colonel  Schuyler 
and  his  companions  staid  in  England,  but  think 
they  were  nearly  a  year  absent.1  In  those  primeval 
days  of  the  settlement,  when  our  present  rapid 
modes  of  transmitting  intelligence  were  unknown, 
in  a  country  so  detached  and  inland  as  that  at 
Albany,  the  return  of  these  interesting  travellers 
was  like  the  first  lighting  of  lamps  in  a  city. 

i  These  sachems  or  chiefs  were  all  of  the  Mohawk  nation,  repre- 
senting all  of  the  Five  Nations.  They  sailed  for  England  in  Decem- 
ber, 1709,  and  had  their  first  audience  of  Queen  Anne  on  the  i9th  of 
the  following  April.  On  their  stormy  passage  across  the  Atlantic  one 
of  them  died,  whence  Mrs.  Grant  speaks  of  them  as  four  in  number. 
They  left  England  on  board  a  man-of-war,  May  8,  and  arrived  in 
Boston,  Mass.,  July  15,  1710. 


Chapter  IV 

COLONEL  SCHUYLER  AND  THE  SACHEMS  — LIT- 
ERARY ACQUISITIONS  —  MANNERS  OF  THE 
SETTLERS 

THIS  sagacious  and  intelligent  patriot  thus 
brought  to  the  foot  of  the  British  throne, 
the  high  spirited  rulers  of  the  boundless  wild,  who, 
alike  heedless  of  the  power  and  splendor  of  distant 
monarchs,  were  accustomed  to  say,  with  Fingal, 
"  sufficient  for  me  is  the  desart,  with  all  deer  and 
woods."  It  may  easily  be  supposed  that  such  a 
mind  as  Philip's  was  equally  fitted  to  acquire  and 
communicate  intelligence.  He  who  had  conversed 
with  Addison,  Marlborough,  and  Godolphin,  who 
had  gratified  the  curiosity  of  Oxford  and  Bolingbroke, 
of  Arbuthnot  and  of  Gay,  with  accounts  of  nature 
in  her  pristine  garb,  and  of  her  children  in  their 
primitive  simplicity  ;  he  who  could  do  all  this,  no 
doubt  received  ample  returns  of  various  information 
from  those  best  qualified  to  give  it,  and  was  besides 
a  diligent  observer.  Here  he  improved  a  taste  for 
literature,  native  to  him,  for  it  had  not  yet  taken 
root  in  this  uncultivated  soil.  He  brought  home 
the  Spectator  and  the  tragedy  of  Cato,  Windsor 
Forest,  Young's  poem  on  the  Last  Day,  and  in 
short  all  the  works  then  published  of  that  constel- 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         65 

lation  of  wits  which  distinguished  the  last  female 
reign.  Nay  more,  and  better,  he  brought  Paradise 
Lost ;  which  in  after-times  afforded  such  delight  to 
some  branches  of  his  family,  that  to  them 

"Paradise,  indeed,  seemed  opened  in  the  wild." 

But  to  return  to  our  sachems,  from  whom  we 
have  too  long  digressed :  when  they  arrived  at 
Albany,  they  did  not,  as  might  be  expected,  hasten 
home  to  communicate  their  discoveries,  or  display 
their  acquisitions.  They  summoned  a  congress 
there,  not  only  of  the  elders  of  their  own  nation, 
but  the  chiefs  of  all  those  with  whom  they  were  in 
alliance.  This  solemn  meeting  was  held  in  the 
Dutch  church.  In  the  present  depressed  and  dim- 
inished state  of  these  once  powerful  tribes,  so  few 
traces  of  their  wonted  energy  remain,  that  it  could 
scarce  be  credited,  were  I  able  to  relate  with  what 
bold  and  flowing  eloquence  they  clothed  their  con- 
ceptions; powerful  reasoning,  emphatic  language, 
and  graceful  action,  added  force  to  their  arguments, 
while  they  persuaded  their  adherents  to  renounce 
all  connection  with  the  tribes  under  the  French  in- 
fluence ;  and  form  a  lasting  league,  offensive  and 
defensive,  with  that  great  queen  whose  mild  majesty 
had  so  deeply  impressed  them :  and  the  mighty 
people  whose  kindness  had  gratified,  and  whose 
power  had  astonished  them,  whose  populous  cities 
swarmed  with  arts  and  commerce,  and  in  whose 
floating  castles  they  had  rode  safely  over  the  ocean. 

VOL.  I.  —  5 


66  MEMOIRS    OF 

I  have  seen  a  volume  of  the  speeches  of  these 
Mohawks  preserved  by  Colonel  Schuyler ;  they 
were  literally  translated,  so  that  the  native  idiom 
was  preserved  ;  which  instead  of  appearing  uncouth, 
seemed  to  add  to  their  strength  and  sublimity. 

When  Colonel  Schuyler  returned  from  England, 
about  the  year  1709,  his  niece  Catalina,1  the  subject 
of  this  narrative,  was  about  seven  years  old;  he 
had  a  daughter  and  sons,  yet  this  child  was  early 
distinguished  above  the  rest  for  docility,  a  great 
desire  of  knowledge,  and  an  even  and  pleasing  tem- 
per ;  this  her  uncle  early  observed.  It  was  at  that 
time  very  difficult  to  procure  the  means  of  instruc- 
tion in  those  inland  districts ;  female  education  of 
consequence  was  conducted  on  a  very  limited  scale ; 
girls  learnt  needlework  (in  which  they  were  indeed 
both  skilful  and  ingenious)  from  their  mothers  and 
aunts ;  they  were  taught  too  at  that  period  to  read, 
in  Dutch,  the  Bible  and  a  few  Calvinist  tracts  of  the 

1  Catalina  was  the  youngest  daughter  of  Capt.  Johannes  Schuyler, 
born  March  5,  1704.  Capt.  Johannes  was  the  youngest  son  of  Philip 
Pietersen,  and  is  noted  for  having  led  a  successful  expedition  into 
Canada  in  1690,  at  the  age  of  22.  He  was  mayor  of  Albany  1703-6, 
and  died  July  27,  i 747.  His  house  on  State  Street,  corner  of  South  Pearl, 
built  1667,  when  recently  taken  down,  was  the  oldest  house  in  Albany. 
Catalyntje,  as  she  was  called,  married  Cornelis  Cuyler,  who  was  for  a 
longtime  alderman  of  the  second  ward,  and  was  mayor  in  1742,  to 
1746,  instead  of  Cornelis  Schuyler,  as  is  mentioned  in  some  of  the 
printed  tables  of  the  mayors.  She  was  the  younger  sister  of  Madame 
Schuyler,  the  heroine  of  this  work,  who  was  Margaretta,  born 
January  12,  1701.  Papers  bearing  her  signature  are  in  existence,  in 
which  she  signed  her  name  Margrita,  and  tradition  corroborates  her 
identity  as  the  daughter  of  Johannes  Schuyler. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         67 

devotional  kind.  But  in  the  infancy  of  the  settle- 
ment few  girls  read  English ;  when  they  did,  they 
were  thought  accomplished;  they  generally  spoke 
it,  however,  imperfectly,  and  few  were  taught  writ- 
ing. This  confined  education  precluded  elegance; 
yet,  though  there  was  no  polish,  there  was  no  vul- 
garity. The  dregs  of  the  people,  who  subside  to 
the  bottom  of  the  mass,  are  not  only  degraded  by 
abject  poverty,  but  so  utterly  shut  out  from  inter- 
course with  the  more  enlightened,  and  so  rankled 
with  envy  at  feeling  themselves  so,  that  a  sense  of 
their  condition  gradually  debases  their  minds ;  and 
this  degradation  communicates  to  their  manners, 
the  vulgarity  of  which  we  complain.  This  more 
particularly  applies  to  the  lower  class  in  towns,  for 
mere  simplicity,  or  even  a  rustic  bluntness,  I  would 
by  no  means  call  vulgarity.  At  the  same  time 
these  unembellished  females  had  more  comprehen- 
sion of  mind,  more  variety  of  ideas,  more  in  short 
of  what  may  be  called  original  thinking,  than  could 
easily  be  imagined.  Their  thoughts  were  not  like 
those  of  other  illiterate  women,  occupied  by  the 
ordinary  details  of  the  day,  and  the  gossiping  tattle 
of  the  neighborhood.  The  life  of  new  settlers,  in 
a  situation  like  this,  where  the  very  foundations  of 
society  were  to  be  laid,  was  a  life  of  exigencies. 
Every  individual  took  an  interest  in  the  general  wel- 
fare, and  contributed  their  respective  shares  of  in- 
telligence and  sagacity  to  aid  plans  that  embraced 
important  objects  relative  to  the  common  good. 


68  MEMOIRS    OF 

Every  day  called  forth  some  new  expedient,  in 
which  the  comfort  or  advantage  of  the  whole  was 
implicated;  for  there  were  no  degrees  but  those 
assigned  to  worth  and  intellect.  This  singular 
community  seemed  to  have  a  common  stock,  not 
only  of  sufferings  and  enjoyments,  but  of  infor- 
mation and  ideas  ;  some  pre-eminence,  in  point  of 
knowledge  and  abilities,  there  certainly  was,  yet 
those  who  possessed  it  seemed  scarcely  conscious 
of  their  superiority  ;  the  daily  occasions  which  called 
forth  the  exertions  of  mind,  sharpened  sagacity, 
and  strengthened  character  ;  avarice  and  vanity  were 
there  confined  to  very  narrow  limits ;  of  money 
there  was  little;  and  dress  was,  though  in  some 
instances  valuable,  very  plain,  and  not  subject  to 
the  caprice  of  fashion.  The  wolves,  the  bears,  and 
the  enraged  or  intoxicated  savages,  that  always  hung 
threatening  on  their  boundaries,  made  them  more 
and  more  endeared  to  each  other.  In  this  calm 
infancy  of  society,  the  rigors  of  law  slept,  because 
the  fury  of  turbulent  passions,  had  not  awakened 
it.  Fashion,  that  capricious  tyrant  over  adult  com- 
munities, had  not  erected  her  standard ;  that  stan- 
dard to  which  the  looks,  the  language,  the  very 
opinions  of  her  subjects  must  be  adjusted.  Yet  no 
person  appeared  uncouth,  or  ill  bred,  because  there 
was  no  accomplished  standard  of  comparison.  They 
viewed  no  superior  with  fear  or  envy ;  and  treated 
no  inferior  with  contempt  or  cruelty  ;  servility  and 
insolence  were  thus  equally  unknown ;  perhaps 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         69 

they  were  less  solicitous  either  to  please  or  to  shine 
than  the  members  of  more  polished  societies  ;  be- 
cause, in  the  first  place  they  had  no  motive  either 
to  dazzle  or  deceive ;  and  in  the  next,  had  they 
attempted  it,  they  felt  there  was  no  assuming  a 
character  with  success,  where  their  native  one  was 
so  well  known.  Their  manners,  if  not  elegant 
and  polished,  were  at  least  easy  and  independent : 
the  constant  efforts  necessary  to  extend  their  com- 
mercial and  agricultural  possessions  prevented  in- 
dolence ;  and  industry  was  the  certain  path  to  plenty. 
Surrounded  on  all  sides  by  those  whom  the  least 
instance  of  fraud,  insolence,  or  grasping  meanness, 
would  have  rendered  irreconcilable  enemies,  they 
were  at  first  obliged  to  "assume  a  virtue  if  they 
had  it  not;"  and  every  circumstance  that  renders 
virtue  habitual,  may  be  accounted  a  happy  one. 
I  may  be  told  that  the  virtues  I  describe  were 
chiefly  those  of  situation.  I  acknowledge  it.  It 
is  no  more  to  be  expected  that  this  equality,  sim- 
plicity, and  moderation,  should  continue  in  a  more 
advanced  state  of  society,  than  that  the  sublime 
tranquillity,  and  dewy  freshness,  which  adds  a  name- 
less charm  to  the  face  of  nature,  in  the  dawn  of  a 
summer's  morning,  should  continue  all  day.  Before 
increased  wealth  and  extended  territory  these  "  was- 
sel  days "  quickly  receded ;  yet  it  is  pleasing  to 
indulge  the  remembrance  of  a  spot,  where  peace 
and  felicity,  the  result  of  a  moral  excellence,  dwelt 
undisturbed,  for,  alas !  hardly  for  a  century. 


Chapter  V 

STATE  OF  RELIGION  AMONG  THE  SETTLERS  — 
SKETCH  OF  THE  STATE  OF  SOCIETY  AT  NEW 
YORK 

I  MUST  finish  this  general  outline,  by  saying 
something  of  that  religion  which  gave  stability 
and  effect  to  the  virtues  of  this  infant  society.  Their 
religion,  then,  like  their  original  national  character, 
had  in  it  little  of  fervor  or  enthusiasm  :  their  man- 
ner of  performing  religious  duties  was  regular  and 
decent,  but  calm,  and  to  more  ardent  imaginations 
might  appear  mechanical.  None  ever  doubted  of 
the  great  truths  of  revelation,  yet  few  seemed 
to  dwell  on  the  result  with  that  lively  delight 
which  devotion  produces  in  minds  of  keener  sensi- 
bility. If  their  piety,  however,  was  without  en- 
thusiasm, it  was  also  without  bigotry  ;  they  wished 
others  to  think  as  they  did,  without  showing  ran- 
cor or  contempt  towards  those  who  did  not.  In 
many  individuals,  whose  lives  seemed  governed  by 
the  principles  of  religion,  the  spirit  of  devotion 
seemed  to  be  quiescent  in  the  heart,  and  to  break 
forth  in  exigencies;  yet  that  monster  in  nature, 
an  impious  woman,  was  never  heard  of  among 
them. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         71 

Indeed  it  was  on  the  females  that  the  task  of  re- 
ligious instruction  generally  devolved;  and  in  all 
cases  where  the  heart  is  interested,  whoever  teaches, 
at  the  same  time  learns. 

Before  I  quit  this  subject,  I  must  observe  a  singu- 
lar coincidence ;  not  only  the  training  of  children 
but  of  plants,  such  as  needed  peculiar  care  or  skill 
to  rear  them,  was  the  female  province.  Every  one 
in  town  or  country  had  a  garden  ;  but  all  the  more 
hardy  plants  grew  in  the  field,  in  rows,  amidst  the 
hills,  as  they  were  called,  of  Indian  corn.  These 
lofty  plants  sheltered  them  from  the  sun,  while  the 
same  hoeing  served  for  both ;  there  cabbages,  pota- 
toes, and  other  esculent  roots,  with  variety  of  gourds 
grew  to  a  great  size,  and  were  of  an  excellent  quality. 
Kidney-beans,  asparagus,  celery,  great  variety  of 
salads  and  sweet  herbs,  cucumbers,  etc.,  were  only 
admitted  into  the  garden,  into  which  no  foot  of  man 
intruded  after  it  was  dug  in  spring.  Here  were  no 
trees,  those  grew  in  the  orchard  in  high  perfection  ; 
strawberries  and  many  high  flavored  wild  fruits  of 
the  shrub  kind  abounded  so  much  in  the  woods, 
that  they  did  not  think  of  cultivating  them  in 
their  gardens,  which  were  extremely  neat  but  small, 
and  not  by  any  means  calculated  for  walking  in. 
I  think  I  yet  see  what  I  have  so  often  beheld 
both  in  town  and  country,  a  respectable  mistress 
of  a  family  going  out  to  her  garden,  in  an  April 
morning,  with  her  great  calash,  her  little  painted 
basket  of  seeds,  and  her  rake  over  her  shoulder, 


72  MEMOIRS    OF 

to  her  garden  labors.  These  were  by  no  means 
figurative, 

««  From  morn  till  noon,  from  noon  till  dewy  eve.'* 

A  woman  in  very  easy  circumstances,  and  abun- 
dantly gentle  in  form  and  manners,  would  sow,  and 
plant,  and  rake  incessantly.  These  fair  gardeners 
too  were  great  florists  :  their  emulation  and  solicitude 
in  this  pleasing  employment,  did  indeed  produce 
"  flowers  worthy  of  Paradise."  These,  though  not 
set  in  "  curious  knots,"  were  ranged  in  beds,  the 
varieties  of  each  kind  by  themselves  ;  this,  if  not 
varied  and  elegant,  was  at  least  rich  and  gay.  To 
the  Schuylers  this  description  did  not  apply ;  they 
had  gardeners,  and  their  gardens  were  laid  out  in 
the  European  manner. 

Perhaps  I  should  reserve  my  description  of  the 
manner  of  living  in  that  country  for  that  period, 
when,  by  the  exertions  of  a  few  humane  and  enlight- 
ened individuals,  it  assumed  a  more  regular  and  de- 
terminate form.  Yet  as  the  same  outline  was  pre- 
served through  all  the  stages  of  its  progression,  I 
know  not  but  that  it  may  be  the  best  to  sketch  it 
entirely,  before  I  go  further;  that  the  few  and  sim- 
ple facts  which  my  narrative  affords  may  not  be 
clogged  by  explanations  relative  to  the  customs,  or 
any  other  peculiarities  which  can  only  be  understood 
by  a  previous  acquaintance  with  the  nature  of  the 
country,  its  political  relations,  and  the  manners  of 
the  people :  my  recollection  all  this  while  has  been 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         73 

merely  confined  to  Albany  and  its  precincts.  At 
New  York  there  was  always  a  governor,  a  few  troops, 
and  a  kind  of  a  little  court  kept ;  there  too  was  a 
mixed,  and  in  some  degree,  polished  society.  To 
this  the  accession  of  many  families  of  French  hugo- 
nots, l  rather  above  the  middling  rank,  contributed 
not  a  little:  those  conscientious  exiles  had  more 
knowledge  and  piety  than  any  other  class  of  the  in- 
habitants ;  their  religion  seemed  indeed  endeared  to 
them  by  what  they  had  suffered  for  adhering  to  it. 
Their  number  and  wealth  was  such,  as  enabled  them 
to  build  not  only  a  street,  but  a  very  respectable 
church  in  the  new  city.  In  this  place  of  worship 
service  continued  to  be  celebrated  in  the  French  lan- 
guage within  my  recollection,  though  the  original 
congregation  was  by  that  time  much  blended  in  the 
mass  of  general  society.  It  was  the  custom  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  upper  settlement,  who  had  any 
pretensions  to  superior  culture  or  polish,  among 
which  number  Col.  Schuyler  stood  foremost,  to  go 
once  in  a  year  to  New  York,  where  all  the  law- 
courts  were  held,  and  all  the  important  business  of 
the  province  transacted,  here  too  they  sent  their 
children  occasionally  to  reside  with  their  relations, 
and  to  learn  the  more  polished  manners  and  language 
of  the  capital.  The  inhabitants  of  that  city,  on  the 

1  Properly  so  written  perhaps,  because  derived  from  Hugon,  or 
Hugo,  a  heretic  or  conspirator,  a  term  finally  given  to  the  French 
protestants  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  now  come  to  be  written  Hu- 
guenots. 


74  MEMOIRS 

other  hand,  delighted  in  a  summer  excursion  to 
Albany.  The  beautiful  and  in  some  places  highly- 
singular  banks  of  the  river,  rendering  a  voyage  to 
its  source  both  amusing  and  interesting,  while  the 
primitive  manners  of  the  inhabitants  diverted  the 
gay  and  idle,  and  pleased  the  thoughtful  and  specu- 
lative. 

Let  me  now  be  indulged  in  drawing  a  picture  of 
the  abode  of  my  childhood  just  as,  at  this  time,  it 
presents  itself  to  my  mind. 


Chapter  VI 


DESCRIPTION  OF  ALBANY  —MANNER    OF  LIVING 
THERE 


city  of  Albany  was  stretched  along  the 
JL  banks  of  the  Hudson  ;  one  very  wide  and  long 
street  lay  parallel  to  the  river,  the  intermediate 
space  between  it  and  the  shore  being  occupied  by 
gardens.  A  small  but  steep  hill  rose  above  the  cen- 
tre of  the  town,  on  which  stood  a  fort,  intended  (but 
very  ill  adapted)  for  the  defense  of  the  place,  and  of 
the  neighboring  country.  From  the  foot  of  this  hill, 
another  street  was  built,  sloping  pretty  rapidly  down 
till  it  joined  the  one  before  mentioned  that  ran 
along  the  river.  This  street  was  still  wider  than  the 
other  ;  it  was  only  paved  on  each  side,  the  middle 
being  occupied  by  public  edifices.  These  consisted 
of  a  market  place,  a  guard  house,  a  town  hall,  and 
the  English  and  Dutch  churches.  The  English 
church,  belonging  to  the  episcopal  persuasion,  and 
in  the  diocese  of  the  bishop  of  London,  stood  at  the 
foot  of  the  hill,  at  the  upper  end  of  the  street.  The 
Dutch  church  was  situated  at  the  bottom  of  the  de- 
scent where  the  street  terminated  ;  two  irregular 
streets,  not  so  broad,  but  equally  long,  ran  parallel 
to  those,  and  a  few  even  ones  opened  between  them. 


76  MEMOIRS    OF 

The  town,  in  proportion  to  its  population,  occupied 
a  great  space  of  ground.  This  city,  in  short,  was 
a  kind  of  semi-rural  establishment;  every  house  had 
its  garden,  well,  and  a  little  green  behind  ;  before 
every  door  a  tree  was  planted,  rendered  interesting 
by  being  coeval  with  some  beloved  member  of  the 
family;  many  of  their  trees  were  of  a  prodigious 
size  and  extraordinary  beauty,  but  without  regu- 
larity, every  one  planting  the  kind  that  best  pleased 
him,  or  which  he  thought  would  afford  the  most 
agreeable  shade  to  the  open  portico  at  his  door 
which  was  surrounded  by  seats,  and  ascended  by  a 
few  steps.  It  was  in  these  that  each  domestic  group 
was  seated  in  summer  evenings  to  enjoy  the  balmy 
twilight,  or  serenely  clear  moonlight.  Each  family 
had  a  cow,  fed  in  a  common  pasture  at  the  end  of 
the  town.  In  the  evening  they  returned  all  together, 
of  their  own  accord,  with  their  tinkling  bells  hung 
at  their  necks,  along  the  wide  and  grassy  street,  to 
their  wonted  sheltering  trees,  to  be  milked  at  their 
master's  doors.  Nothing  could  be  more  pleasing  to 
a  simple  and  benevolent  mind  than  to  see  thus,  at 
one  view,  all  the  inhabitants  of  a  town,  which  con- 
tained not  one  very  rich  or  very  poor,  very  know- 
ing or  very  ignorant,  very  rude  or  very  polished 
individual ;  to  see  all  these  children  of  nature  enjoy- 
ing in  easy  indolence,  or  social  intercourse, 

"  The  cool,  the  fragrant,  and  the  dusky  hour," 

clothed  in  the  plainest  habits,  and  with  minds  as 
undisguised  and  artless.  These  primitive  beings 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY 


77 


were  dispersed  in  porches  grouped  according  to 
similarity  of  years  and  inclinations.  At  one  door 
young  matrons,  at  another  the  elders  of  the  people, 
at  a  third  the  youths  and  maidens,  gaily  chatting  or 
singing  together,  while  the  children  played  round 
the  trees,  or  waited  by  the  cows,  for  the  chief  ingre- 
dient of  their  frugal  supper,  which  they  generally 
ate  sitting  on  the  steps  in  the  open  air.  This  pic- 
ture, so  familiar  to  my  imagination,  has  led  me  away 
from  my  purpose,  which  was  to  describe  the  rural 
economy,  and  modes  of  living  in  this  patriarchal 
city.  At  one  end  of  the  town,  as  I  observed  before, 
was  a  common  pasture  where  all  the  cattle  belong- 
ing to  the  inhabitants  grazed  together.  A  never- 
failing  instinct  guided  each  home  to  her  master's 
door  in  the  evening,  there  being  treated  with  a  few 
vegetables  and  a  little  salt,  which  is  indispensably 
necessary  for  cattle  in  this  country,  they  patiently 
waited  the  night ;  and  after  being  milked  in  the 
morning,  they  went  off  in  slow  and  regular  proces- 
sion to  their  pasture.  At  the  other  end  of  the  town 
was  a  fertile  plain  along  the  river,  three  miles  in 
length,  and  near  a  mile  broad.  This  was  all  divided 
into  lots,  where  every  inhabitant  raised  Indian  corn 
sufficient  for  the  food  of  two  or  three  slaves  (the 
greatest  number  that  each  family  ever  possessed), 
and  for  his  horses,  pigs,  and  poultry  :  their  flour 
and  other  grain  they  purchased  from  farmers  in  the 
vicinity.  Above  the  town,  a  long  stretch  to  the 
westward  was  occupied  first  by  sandy  hills,  on  which 


78  MEMOIRS    OF 

grew  bilberries  of  uncommon  size  and  flavor  in  pro- 
digious quantities ;  beyond  rise  heights  of  a  poor 
hungry  soil,  thinly  covered  with  stunted  pines,  or 
dwarf  oak.  Yet  in  this  comparatively  barren  tract, 
there  were  several  wild  and  picturesque  spots,  where 
small  brooks,  running  in  deep  and  rich  bottoms, 
nourished  on  their  banks  every  vegetable  beauty  ; 
there  some  of  the  most  industrious  early  settlers  had 
cleared  the  luxuriant  wood  from  these  charming  little 
glens,  and  built  neat  cottages  for  their  slaves,  sur- 
rounded with  little  gardens  and  orchards,  sheltered 
from  every  blast,  wildly  picturesque,  and  richly  pro- 
ductive. Those  small  sequestered  vales  had  an 
attraction  that  I  know  not  how  to  describe,  and 
which  probably  resulted  from  the  air  of  deep  repose 
that  reigned  there,  and  the  strong  contrast  which 
they  exhibited  to  the  surrounding  sterility.  One  of 
these  was  in  my  time  inhabited  by  a  hermit.  He 
was  a  Frenchman,  and  did  not  seem  to  inspire  much 
veneration  among  the  Albanians.  They  imagined,  or 
had  heard,  that  he  retired  to  that  solitude  in  remorse 
for  some  fatal  duel  in  which  he  had  been  engaged  ; 
and  considered  him  as  an  idolater  because  he  had 
an  image  of  the  virgin  in  his  hut.  I  think  he 
retired  to  Canada  at  last;  but  I  remember  being 
ready  to  worship  him  for  the  sanctity  with  which 
my  imagination  invested  him,  and  being  cruelly 
disappointed  because  I  was  not  permitted  to  visit 
him.  These  cottages  were  in  summer  occupied  by 
some  of  the  negroes  who  cultivated  the  grounds 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         79 

about  them,  and  served  as  a  place  of  joyful  liberty 
to  the  children  of  the  family  on  holidays,  and 
a  nursery  for  the  young  negroes  whom  it  was  the 
custom  to  rear  very  tenderly,  and  instruct  very 
carefully. 


Chapter    VII 

GENTLE   TREATMENT   OF   SLAVES   AMONG    THE 
ALBANIANS— REFLECTIONS  ON  SERVITUDE 

IN  the  society  I  am  describing,  even  the  dark 
aspect  of  slavery  was  softened  into  a  smile. 
And  I  must,  in  justice  to  the  best  possible  masters, 
say,  that  a  great  deal  of  that  tranquillity  and  com- 
fort, to  call  it  by  no  higher  name,  which  distin- 
guished this  society  from  all  others,  was  owing  to 
the  relation  between  master  and  servant  being  better 
understood  here  than  in  any  other  place.  Let  me 
not  be  detested  as  an  advocate  for  slavery  when  I 
say  that  I  think  I  have  never  seen  people  so  happy 
in  servitude  as  the  domestics  of  the  Albanians. 
One  reason  was  (for  I  do  not  now  speak  of  the 
virtues  of  their  masters),  that  each  family  had  few 
of  them,  and  that  there  were  no  field  negroes.  They 
would  remind  one  of  Abraham's  servants,  who  were 
all  born  in  the  house,  which  was  exactly  their  case. 
They  were  baptized  too,  and  shared  the  same  reli- 
gious instruction  with  the  children  of  the  family ; 
and,  for  the  first  years,  there  was  little  or  no  differ- 
ence with  regard  to  food  or  clothing  between  their 
children  and  those  of  their  masters. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         81 

When  a  negro-woman's  child  attained  the  age  of 
three  years,  the  first  new  year's  day  after,  it  was 
solemnly  presented  to  a  son  or  daughter,  or  other 
young  relative  of  the  family,  who  was  of  the  same 
sex  with  the  child  so  presented.  The  child  to  whom 
the  young  negro  was  given  immediately  presented 
it  with  some  piece  of  money  and  a  pair  of  shoes ; 
and  from  that  day  the  strongest  attachment  sub- 
sisted between  the  domestic  and  the  destined  owner. 
I  have  no  where  met  with  instances  of  friendship 
more  tender  and  generous  than  that  which  here 
subsisted  between  the  slaves  and  their  masters  and 
mistresses.  Extraordinary  proofs  of  them  have 
been  often  given  in  the  course  of  hunting  or  Indian 
trading,  when  a  young  man  and  his  slave  have  gone 
to  the  trackless  woods  together,  in  the  case  of  fits 
of  the  ague,  loss  of  a  canoe,  and  other  casualties 
happening  near  hostile  Indians.  The  slave  has 
been  known,  at  the  imminent  risk  of  his  life,  to  carry 
his  disabled  master  through  trackless  woods  with 
labor  and  fidelity  scarce  credible ;  and  the  master 
has  been  equally  tender  on  similar  occasions  of  the 
humble  friend  who  stuck  closer  than  a  brother  ;  who 
was  baptized  with  the  same  baptism,  nurtured  under 
the  same  roof,  and  often  rocked  in  the  same  cradle 
with  himself.  These  gifts  of  domestics  to  the 
younger  members  of  the  family,  were  not  irrevoc- 
able:  yet  they  were  very  rarely  withdrawn.  If  the 
kitchen  family  did  not  increase  in  proportion  to 
that  of  the  master,  young  children  were  purchased 

VOL.  I.  —6 


82  MEMOIRS    OF 

from  some  family  where  they  abounded,  to  furnish 
those  attached  servants  to  the  rising  progeny.  They 
were  never  sold  without  consulting  their  mother, 
who,  if  expert  and  sagacious,  had  a  great  deal  to 
say  in  the  family,  and  would  not  allow  her  child  to 
go  into  any  family  with  whose  domestics  she  was 
not  acquainted.  These  negro-women  piqued  them- 
selves on  teaching  their  children  to  be  excellent  ser- 
vants, well  knowing  servitude  to  be  their  lot  for  life, 
and  that  it  could  only  be  sweetened  by  making 
themselves  particularly  useful,  and  excelling  in  their 
department.  If  they  did  their  work  well,  it  is  as- 
tonishing, when  I  recollect  it,  what  liberty  of  speech 
was  allowed  to  those  active  and  prudent  mothers. 
They  would  chide,  reprove,  and  expostulate  in  a 
manner  that  we  would  not  endure  from  our  hired 
servants  ;  and  sometimes  exert  fully  as  much  author- 
ity over  the  children  of  the  family  as  the  parents, 
conscious  that  they  were  entirely  in  their  power. 
They  did  not  crush  freedom  of  speech  and  opinion 
in  those  by  whom  they  knew  they  were  beloved, 
and  who  watched  with  incessant  care  over  their  in- 
terest and  comfort.  Affectionate  and  faithful  as 
these  home-bred  servants  were  in  general,  there  were 
some  instances  (but  very  few)  of  those  who,  through 
levity  of  mind,  or  a  love  of  liquor  or  finery,  betrayed 
their  trust,  or  habitually  neglected  their  duty.  In 
these  cases,  after  every  means  had  been  used  to 
reform  them,  no  severe  punishments  were  inflicted 
at  home.  But  the  terrible  sentence,  which  they 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         83 

dreaded  worse  than  death,  was  passed  —  they  were 
sold  to  Jamaica.  The  necessity  of  doing  this  was 
bewailed  by  the  whole  family  as  a  most  dreadful 
calamity,  and  the  culprit  was  carefully  watched  on 
his  way  to  New  York,  lest  he  should  evade  the 
sentence  by  self-destruction. 

One  must  have  lived  among  those  placid  and 
humane  people  to  be  sensible  that  servitude,  hope- 
less, endless  servitude,  could  exist  with  so  little 
servility  and  fear  on  the  one  side,  and  so  little 
harshness  or  even  sternness  of  authority  on  the  other. 
In  Europe,  the  footing  on  which  service  is  placed 
in  consequence  of  the  corruptions  of  society,  hardens 
the  heart,  destroys  confidence,  and  embitters  life. 
The  deceit  and  venality  of  servants,  not  absolutely 
dishonest,  puts  it  out  of  one's  power  to  love  or  trust 
them.  And  if,  in  hopes  of  having  people  attached 
to  us,  who  will  neither  betray  our  confidence,  nor 
corrupt  our  children,  we  are  at  pains  to  rear  them 
from  childhood,  and  give  them  a  religious  and 
moral  education ;  after  all  our  labor,  others  of  their 
own  class  seduce  them  away  to  those  who  can  afford 
to  pay  higher  for  their  services.  This  is  not  the 
case  in  a  few  remote  districts.  Where  surrounding 
mountains  seem  to  exclude  the  contagion  of  the 
world,  some  traces  of  fidelity  and  affection  among 
domestics  still  remain.  But  it  must  be  remarked, 
that,  in  those  very  districts,  it  is  usual  to  treat  in- 
feriors with  courtesy  and  kindness,  and  to  consider 


84  MEMOIRS    OF 

those  domestics  who  marry  out  of  the  family  as 
holding  a  kind  of  relation  to  it,  and  still  claiming 
protection.  In  short,  the  corruption  of  that  class 
of  people  is,  doubtless,  to  be  attributed  to  the  ex- 
ample of  their  superiors.  But  how  severely  are 
those  superiors  punished  ?  Why  this  general  indif- 
ference about  home ;  why  are  the  household  gods, 
why  is  the  sacred  hearth  so  wantonly  abandoned  ? 
Alas !  the  charm  of  home  is  destroyed,  since  our 
children,  educated  in  distant  seminaries,  are  strangers 
in  the  paternal  mansion ;  and  our  servants,  like 
mere  machines,  move  on  their  mercenary  track  with- 
out feeling  or  exciting  one  kind  or  generous  senti- 
ment. Home,  thus  despoiled  of  all  its  charms,  is 
no  longer  the  scene  of  any  enjoyment  but  such  as 
wealth  can  purchase.  At  the  same  time  we  feel 
there  a  nameless  cold  privation,  and  conscious  that 
money  can  coin  the  same  enjoyments  with  more 
variety  elsewhere,  we  substitute  these  futile  and 
evanescent  pleasures  for  that  perennial  spring  of 
calm  satisfaction,  "  without  o'er  flowing  full,"  which 
is  fed  by  the  exercise  of  the  kindly  affections,  and 
soon  indeed  must  those  stagnate  where  there  are 
not  proper  objects  to  excite  them.  I  have  been 
forced  into  this  painful  digression  by  unavoidable 
comparisons.  To  return : 

Amidst  all  this  mild  and  really  tender  indulgence 
to  their  negroes,  these  colonists  had  not  the  smallest 
scruple  of  conscience  with  regard  to  the  right  by 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         85 

which  they  held  them  in  subjection.  Had  that 
been  the  case,  their  singular  humanity  would  have 
been  incompatible  with  continued  injustice.  But 
the  truth  is,  that  of  law  the  generality  of  those 
people  knew  little  ;  and  of  philosophy,  nothing  at 
all.  They  sought  their  code  of  morality  in  the 
Bible,  and  there  imagined  they  found  this  hapless 
race  condemned  to  perpetual  slavery ;  and  thought 
nothing  remained  for  them  but  to  lighten  the  chains 
of  their  fellow  Christians,  after  having  made  them 
such.  This  I  neither  "  extenuate,"  nor  "  set  down 
in  malice,"  but  merely  record  the  fact.  At  the 
same  time  it  is  but  justice  to  record  also  a  singular 
instance  of  moral  delicacy  distinguishing  this  settle- 
ment from  every  other  in  the  like  circumstances : 
though  from  their  simple  and  kindly  modes  of  life, 
they  were  from  infancy  in  habits  of  familiarity  with 
these  humble  friends,  yet  being  early  taught  that 
nature  had  placed  between  them  a  barrier,  which  it 
was  in  a  high  degree  criminal  and  disgraceful  to 
pass,  they  considered  a  mixture  of  such  distinct  races 
with  abhorrence,  as  a  violation  of  her  laws.  This 
greatly  conduced  to  the  preservation  of  family  hap- 
piness and  concord.  An  ambiguous  race,  which 
the  law  does  not  acknowledge  ;  and  who  (if  they 
have  any  moral  sense,  must  be  as  much  ashamed  of 
their  parents  as  these  last  are  of  them),  are  certainly 
a  dangerous,  because  degraded  part  of  the  commun- 
ity. How  much  more  so  must  be  those  unfortu- 


86  MEMOIRS    OF 

nate  beings  who  stand  in  the  predicament  of  the  bat 
in  the  fable,  whom  both  birds  and  beasts  disowned  ? 
I  am  sorry  to  say  that  the  progress  of  the  British 
army,  when  it  arrived,  might  be  traced  by  a  spurious 
and  ambiguous  race  of  this  kind.  But  of  a  mulatto 
born  before  their  arrival  I  only  remember  a  single 
instance ;  and  from  the  regret  and  wonder  it  occa- 
sioned, considered  it  as  singular.  Colonel  Schuyler, 
of  whom  I  am  to  speak,  had  a  relation  so  weak  and 
defective  in  capacity,  that  he  never  was  intrusted 
with  anything  of  his  own,  and  lived  an  idle  bachelor 
about  the  family.  In  process  of  time  a  favorite 
negro-woman,  to  the  great  offence  and  scandal  of 
the  family,  bore  a  child  to  him,  whose  color  gave 
testimony  to  the  relation.  The  boy  was  carefully 
educated ;  and  when  he  grew  up,  a  farm  was  allotted 
to  him  well  stocked  and  fertile,  but  in  "  depth  of 
woods  embraced,"  about  two  miles  back  from  the 
family  seat.  A  destitute  white  woman,  who  had 
somehow  wandered  from  the  older  colonies,  was  in- 
duced to  marry  him ;  and  all  the  branches  of  the 
family  thought  it  incumbent  on  them  now  and 
then  to  pay  a  quiet  visit  to  Chalk  (for  so,  for  some 
unknown  reason,  they  always  called  him).  I  have 
been  in  Chalk's  house  myself,  and  a  most  comfort- 
able abode  it  was ;  but  considered  him  as  a  mysteri- 
ous and  anomalous  being. 

I  have  dwelt  the  longer  on  this  singular  instance 
of  slavery  existing  devoid  of  its  attendant  horrors, 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         87 

because  the  fidelity  and  affection  resulting  from  a 
bond  of  union  so  early  formed  between  master  and 
servant,  contributed  so  very  much  to  the  safety  of 
individuals,  as  well  as  the  general  comfort  of  society, 
as  will  hereafter  appear. 


Chapter    VIII 


EDUCATION   AND  EARLY  HABITS  OF  THE 
ALBANIANS 


T 


HE  foundations  both  of  friendship  and  still 
tenderer  attachments  were  here  laid  very  early 
by  an  institution  which  I  always  thought  had  been 
peculiar  to  Albany,  till  I  found  in  Dr.  Moore's  View 
of  Society  on  the  Continent  an  account  of  a  similar 
custom  subsisting  in  Geneva.  The  children  of  the 
town  were  all  divided  into  companies,  as  they  called 
them,  from  five  to  six  years  of  age,  till  they  be- 
came marriageable.  How  those  companies  first 
originated,  or  what  were  their  exact  regulations,  I 
cannot  say ;  though  I,  belonging  to  none,  occasion- 
ally mixed  with  several,  yet  always  as  a  stranger, 
though  I  spoke  their  current  language  fluently. 
Every  company  contained  as  many  boys  as  girls. 
But  I  do  not  know  that  there  was  any  limited 
number ;  only  this  I  recollect,  that  a  boy  and  a  girl 
of  each  company,  who  were  older,  cleverer,  or  had 
some  other  preeminence  above  the  rest,  were  called 
heads  of  the  company,  and  as  such,  obeyed  by  the 
others.  Whether  they  were  voted  in,  or  attained 
their  preeminence  by  a  tacit  acknowledgment  of 
their  superiority,  I  know  not,  but  however  it  was 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         89 

attained  it  was  never  disputed.  The  company  of 
little  children  had  also  their  heads.  All  the  chil- 
dren of  the  same  age  were  not  in  one  company  ; 
there  were  at  least  three  or  four  of  equal  ages,  who 
had  a  strong  rivalry  with  each  other  ;  and  children 
of  different  ages  in  the  same  family,  belonged  to 
different  companies.  Wherever  there  is  human 
nature  there  will  be  a  degree  of  emulation,  strife, 
and  a  desire  to  lessen  others,  that  we  may  exalt 
ourselves.  Dispassionate  as  my  friends  compara- 
tively were,  and  bred  up  in  the  highest  attainable 
candor  and  innocence,  they  regarded  the  company 
most  in  competition  with  their  own  with  a  degree 
of  jealous  animosity.  Each  company,  at  a  certain 
time  of  the  year,  went  in  a  body  to  gather  a  partic- 
ular kind  of  berries,  to  the  hills.  It  was  a  sort  of 
annual  festival,  attended  with  religious  punctuality. 
Every  company  had  an  uniform  for  this  purpose; 
that  is  to  say,  very  pretty  light  baskets  made  by 
the  Indians,  with  lids  and  handles,  which  hung  over 
the  arm,  and  were  adorned  with  various  colors. 
One  company  would  never  allow  the  least  degree 
of  taste  to  the  other  in  this  instance ;  and  was  sure 
to  vent  its  whole  stock  of  spleen  in  decrying  the 
rival  baskets.  Nor  would  they  ever  admit  that 
the  rival  company  gathered  near  so  much  fruit  on 
these  excursions  as  they  did.  The  parents  of  these 
children  seemed  very  much  to  encourage  this  man- 
ner of  marshalling  and  dividing  themselves.  Every 
child  was  permitted  to  entertain  the  whole  company 


9o  MEMOIRS    OF 

on  its  birth-day,  and  once  besides,  during  winter 
and  spring.  The  master  and  mistress  of  the  family 
always  were  bound  to  go  from  home  on  these  occa- 
sions, while  some  old  domestic  was  left  to  attend 
and  watch  over  them,  with  an  ample  provision  of 
tea,  chocolate,  preserved  and  dried  fruits,  nuts,  and 
cakes  of  various  kinds,  to  which  was  added  cider 
or  a  syllabub,  for  these  young  friends  met  at  four, 
and  did  not  part  till  nine  or  ten,  and  amused  them- 
selves with  the  utmost  gaiety  and  freedom  in  any 
way  their  fancy  dictated.  I  speak  from  hearsay ; 
for  no  person  that  does  not  belong  to  the  company 
is  ever  admitted  to  these  meetings :  other  children 
or  young  people  visit  occasionally  and  are  civilly 
treated,  but  they  admit  of  no  intimacies  beyond 
their  company.  The  consequence  of  these  exclu- 
sive and  early  intimacies  was,  that,  grown  up,  it 
was  reckoned  a  sort  of  apostasy  to  marry  out  of 
one's  company.  And  indeed  it  did  not  often  hap- 
pen. The  girls,  from  the  example  of  their  mothers, 
rather  than  any  compulsion,  became  very  early 
notable  and  industrious,  being  constantly  employed 
in  knitting  stockings,  and  making  clothes  for  the 
family  and  slaves;  they  even  made  all  the  boys' 
clothes.  This  was  the  more  necessary,  as  all  arti- 
cles of  clothing  were  extremely  dear.  Though  all 
the  necessaries  of  life,  and  some  luxuries  abounded, 
money,  as  yet,  was  a  scarce  commodity.  This  in- 
dustry was  the  more  to  be  admired,  as  children  were 
here  indulged  to  a  degree  that,  in  our  vitiated  state 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         91 

of  society,  would  have  rendered  them  good  for 
nothing.  But  there,  where  ambition,  vanity,  and 
the  more  turbulent  passions  were  scarce  awak- 
ened ;  where  pride,  founded  on  birth,  or  any  ex- 
ternal preeminence,  was  hardly  known ;  and  where 
the  affections  flourished  fair  and  vigorous,  unchecked 
by  the  thorns  and  thistles  with  which  our  minds 
are  cursed  in  a  more  advanced  state  of  refinement, 
affection  restrained  parents  from  keeping  their  chil- 
dren at  a  distance,  and  inflicting  harsh  punishments. 
But  then  they  did  not  treat  them  like  apes  or  par- 
rots ;  by  teaching  them  to  talk  with  borrowed  words 
and  ideas,  and  afterwards  gratifying  their  own  vanity 
by  exhibiting  these  premature  wonders  to  company, 
or  repeating  their  sayings.  They  were  tenderly 
cherished,  and  early  taught  that  they  owed  all  their 
enjoyments  to  the  divine  source  of  beneficence,  to 
whom  they  were  finally  accountable  for  their  ac- 
tions; for  the  rest  they  were  very  much  left  to 
nature,  and  permitted  to  range  about  at  full  liberty 
in  their  earliest  years,  covered  in  summer  with  some 
slight  and  cheap  garb,  which  merely  kept  the  sun 
from  them,  and  in  the  winter  with  some  warm  habit, 
in  which  convenience  only  was  consulted.  Their 
dress  of  ceremony  was  never  put  on  but  when  their 
company  was  assembled.  They  were  extremely  fond 
of  their  children  ;  but  luckily  for  the  latter,  never 
dreamed  of  being  vain  of  their  immature  wit  and 
parts,  which  accounts,  in  some  measure  for  the 
great  scarcity  of  coxcombs  among  them.  The  chil- 


92  MEMOIRS    OF 

dren  returned  the  fondness  of  their  parents  with 
such  tender  affection,  that  they  feared  giving  them 
pain  as  much  as  ours  do  punishment,  and  very 
rarely  wounded  their  feelings  by  neglect,  or  rude 
answers.  Yet  the  boys  were  often  wilful  and  giddy 
at  a  certain  age,  the  girls  being  sooner  tamed  and 
domesticated. 

These  youths  were  apt,  whenever  they  could 
carry  a  gun  (which  they  did  at  a  very  early  period), 
to  follow  some  favorite  negro  to  the  woods,  and, 
while  he  was  employed  in  felling  trees,  range  the 
whole  day  in  search  of  game,  to  the  neglect  of 
all  intellectual  improvement,  and  contract  a  love 
of  savage  liberty  which  might,  and  in  some  in- 
stances did,  degenerate  into  licentious  and  idle 
habits.  Indeed,  there  were  three  stated  periods 
in  the  year  when,  for  a  few  days,  young  and  old, 
masters  and  slaves,  were  abandoned  to  unruly 
enjoyment,  and  neglected  every  serious  occupation 
for  pursuits  of  this  nature. 

We  who  occupy  countries  fully  inhabited  can 
form  no  idea  of  the  multitude  of  birds  and  animals 
that  nature  provides  to  consume  her  waste  fertility 
in  those  regions  unexplored  by  man.  In  the 
interior  of  the  province  the  winter  is  much  colder 
than  might  be  supposed,  from  the  latitude  in  which 
it  lies,  which  is  only  43  degrees  36  minutes,  from 
the  keen  north  winds  which  blow  constantly  for 
four  or  five  months  over  vast  frozen  lakes  and 
snowy  tracts,  in  the  direction  of  Canada.  The 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY          93 

snow  too  lies  very  deep;  but  when  once  they 
are  visited  by  the  south  wind  in  March,  its  literally 
warm  approach  dissolves  the  snow  like  magic ; 
and  one  never  sees  another  wintry  day  till  the 
season  of  cold  returns.  These  southern  winds 
seem  to  flow  in  a  rapid  current,  uninterrupted 
by  mountains  or  other  obstacles,  from  the  burning 
sands  of  the  Floridas,  Georgia,  and  the  Carolinas, 
and  bring  with  them  a  degree  of  warmth,  that 
appears  no  more  the  natural  result  of  the  situa- 
tion, than  the  intense  cold  of  winter  does  in  that 
season. 

Along  the  sea  banks,  in  all  these  southern 
provinces,  are  low  sandy  lands,  that  never  were 
or  will  be  inhabited,  covered  with  the  berry- 
bearing  myrtle,  from  which  wax  is  extracted  fit 
for  candles.  Behind  these  banks  are  woods  and 
unwholesome  swamps  of  great  extent.  The  myrtle 
groves  formerly  mentioned  afford  shelter  and  food 
to  countless  multitudes  of  pigeons  in  winter,  when 
their  fruit  is  in  season ;  while  wild  geese  and  ducks, 
in  numbers  nearly  as  great,  pass  the  winter  in  the 
impenetrable  swamps  behind.  Some  time  in  the 
month  of  April,  a  general  emigration  takes  place 
to  the  northward,  first  of  the  geese  and  ducks, 
and  then  of  the  pigeons ;  they  keep  the  direction 
of  the  sea  coast  till  they  come  to  the  mouths 
of  the  great  rivers,  and  then  follow  their  course 
till  they  reach  the  great  lakes  in  the  interior, 
where  nature  has  provided  for  them  with  the 


94  MEMOIRS    OF 

same  liberality  as  in  their  winter  haunts.  On  the 
banks  of  these  lakes  there  are  large  tracts  of  ground 
covered  with  a  plant  taller  and  more  luxuriant 
than  the  wild  carrot,  but  something  resembling 
it,  on  the  seeds  of  which  the  pigeons  feed  all  the 
summer,  while  they  are  breeding  and  rearing  their 
young.  When  they  pass  in  spring,  which  they 
always  do  in  the  same  track,  they  go  in  great 
numbers,  and  are  very  fat.  Their  progression 
northward  and  southward  begins  always  about  the 
vernal  and  autumnal  equinoxes ;  and  it  is  this 
that  renders  the  carnage  so  great  when  they  pass 
over  inhabited  districts.1  They  begin  to  fly  in 
the  dawn,  and  are  never  seen  after  nine  or  ten 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  possibly  feeding  and  rest- 
ing in  the  woods  all  the  rest  of  the  day.  If 
the  morning  be  dry  and  windy,  all  the  fowlers 
(that  is  every  body)  are  disappointed,  for  then 
they  fly  so  high  that  no  shot  can  reach  them : 
but  in  a  cloudy  morning  the  carnage  is  incredible  ; 
and  it  is  singular  that  their  removal  falls  out 
at  the  times  of  the  year  that  the  weather  (even 
in  this  serene  climate)  is  generally  cloudy.  This 

1  The  immense  flocks  of  pigeons  that  formerly  came  down  from 
the  north  after  the  season  of  incubation  in  such  numbers  as  sometimes 
to  darken  the  atmosphere  like  a  passing  cloud,  have  long  since  ceased 
to  be  witnessed  in  the  valleys  of  the  Hudson  and  the  Connecticut. 
Geese  and  ducks  also  appear  in  diminished  numbers,  and  are  more 
frequently  heard  making  their  passage  by  night,  and  are  not  so  often 
seen  in  the  unbroken  form  of  their  flight,  which  is  that  of  a  harrow,  or 
the  letter  A. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         95 

migration,  as  it  passed  by,  occasioned,  as  I  said 
before,  a  total  relaxation  from  all  employments, 
and  a  kind  of  drunken  gaiety,  though  it  was  rather 
slaughter  than  sport ;  and,  for  above  a  fortnight, 
pigeons  in  pies  and  soups,  and  every  way  they 
could  be  dressed,  were  the  food  of  the  inhabitants. 
These  were  immediately  succeeded  by  wild  geese 
and  ducks,  which  concluded  the  carnival  for  that 
season,  to  be  renewed  in  September.  About  six 
weeks  after  the  passage  of  these  birds,  sturgeon 
of  a  large  size,  and  in  great  quantity,  made  their 
appearance  in  the  river.  Now  the  same  ardor 
seemed  to  pervade  all  ages  in  pursuit  of  this  new 
object.  Every  family  had  a  canoe;  and  on  this 
occasion  all  were  launched;  and  these  persevering 
fishers  traced  the  course  of  the  sturgeon  up  the 
river,  followed  them  by  torch  light,  and  often  con- 
tinued two  nights  upon  the  water,  never  returning 
till  they  had  loaded  their  canoes  with  this  valuable 
fish,  and  many  other  very  excellent  in  their  kinds, 
that  come  up  the  river  at  the  same  time.  The 
sturgeon  not  only  furnished  them  with  good  part 
of  their  food  in  the  summer  months,  but  was 
pickled  or  dried  for  future  use  or  exportation. 


Chapter   IX 

FIRST   ADVENTURES   OF  THE   INDIAN   TRADERS 

TO  return  to  the  boys,  as  all  young  men  were 
called  here  till  they  married.  Thus  early 
trained  to  a  love  of  sylvan  sports,  their  characters 
were  unfolded  by  contingencies.  In  this  infant 
society  penal  laws  lay  dormant,  and  every  species 
of  coercion  was  unknown. 

Morals,  founded  on  Christianity,  were  fostered 
by  the  sweet  influence  of  the  charities  of  life.  The 
reverence  which  children  in  particular  had  for  their 
parents,  and  the  young  in  general  for  the  old,  was 
the  chief  bond  that  held  society  together.  This 
veneration  being  founded  on  esteem,  certainly 
could  only  have  existed  thus  powerfully  in  an 
uncorrupted  community.  It  had,  however,  an 
auxiliary  no  less  powerful. 

Here,  indeed,  it  might  with  truth  be  said, 

"Love  breath' d  his  infant  sighs  from  anguish  free." 

In  consequence  of  this  singular  mode  of  associat- 
ing together  little  exclusive  parties  of  children  of 
both  sexes,  which  has  been  already  mentioned, 
endearing  intimacies,  formed  in  the  age  of  playful 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         97 

innocence,  were  the  precursors  of  more  tender 
attachments. 

These  were  not  wrought  up  to  romantic  enthu- 
siasm, or  extravagant  passion,  by  an  inflamed  imagi- 
nation, or  by  the  fears  of  rivalry,  or  the  artifices 
of  coquetry,  yet  they  had  power  sufficient  to  soften 
the  manners  and  elevate  the  character  of  the  lover. 

I  know  not  if  this  be  the  proper  place  to  observe, 
how  much  of  the  general  order  of  society,  and  the 
happiness  of  a  people  depends  on  marriage  being 
early  and  universal  among  them ;  but  of  this  more 
hereafter.  The  desire  (undiverted  by  any  other 
passion)  of  obtaining  the  object  of  their  affection, 
was  to  them  a  stimulus  to  early  and  severe  exer- 
tion. The  enamored  youth  did  not  listlessly  fold 
his  arms  and  sigh  over  his  hopeless  or  unfortunate 
passion.  Of  love  not  fed  by  hope  they  had  not 
an  idea.  Their  attachments  originated  at  too  early 
an  age,  and  in  a  circle  too  familiar  to  give  room 
for  those  first-sight  impressions  of  which  we  hear 
such  wonders.  If  the  temper  of  the  youth  was 
rash  and  impetuous,  and  his  fair  one  gentle  and 
complying,  they  frequently  formed  a  rash  and 
precipitate  union  without  consulting  their  relations, 
when  perhaps  the  elder  of  the  two  was  not  above 
seventeen.  This  was  very  quietly  borne  by  the 
parties  aggrieved.  The  relations  of  both  parties 
met,  and  with  great  calmness  consulted  on  what 
was  to  be  done.  The  father  of  the  youth  or  the 
damsel,  which  ever  it  was  who  had  most  wealth, 

VOL.  I.  —  7 


98  MEMOIRS    OF 

or  fewest  children,  brought  home  the  young  couple : 
and  the  new  married  man  immediately  set  about 
a  trading  adventure,  which  was  renewed  every 
season,  till  he  had  the  means  of  providing  a  home 
of  his  own.  Meantime  the  increase  of  the  younger 
family  did  not  seem  an  inconvenience,  but  rather 
a  source  of  delight  to  the  old  people ;  and  an 
arrangement  begun  from  necessity  was  often  con- 
tinued through  choice  for  many  years  after.  Their 
tempers,  unruffled  by  the  endless  jealousies  and 
competitions  incident  to  our  mode  of  life,  were 
singularly  placid,  and  the  love  of  offspring,  where 
children  were  truly  an  unmixed  blessing,  was  a 
common  sentiment  which  united  all  the  branches 
of  the  family  and  predominated  over  every  other. 
The  jarring  and  distrust,  the  petulance  and  egotism, 
which,  distinct  from  all  weightier  considerations, 
would  not  fail  to  poison  concord,  were  different 
families  to  dwell  under  one  roof  here,  were  there 
scarcely  known.  It  is  but  justice  to  our  acquired 
delicacy  of  sentiment  to  say,  that  the  absence  of 
refinement  contributed  to  this  tranquillity.  These 
primitive  people,  if  they  did  not  gather  the  flowers 
of  cultivated  elegance,  were  not  wounded  by  the 
thorns  of  irritable  delicacy  :  they  had  neither  arti- 
ficial wants,  nor  artificial  miseries.  In  short,  they 
were  neither  too  wise  to  be  happy,  nor  too  witty 
to  be  at  rest. 

Thus  it  was  in  the  case  of  unauthorized  marriages. 
In  the  more  ordinary  course  of  things,  love,  which 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         99 

makes  labor  light,  tamed  these  young  hunters,  and 
transformed  them  into  diligent  and  laborious  trad- 
ers, for  the  nature  of  their  trade  included  very 
severe  labor.  When  one  of  the  boys  was  deeply 
smitten,  his  fowling-piece  and  fishing  rod  were  at 
once  relinquished.  He  demanded  of  his  father 
forty  or  at  most  fifty  dollars,  a  negro  boy  and  a 
canoe  ;  all  of  a  sudden  he  assumed  the  brow  of  care 
and  solicitude,  and  began  to  smoke,  a  precaution 
absolutely  necessary  to  repel  aguish  damps,  and 
troublesome  insects.  He  arrayed  himself  in  a  habit 
very  little  differing  from  that  of  the  aborigines,  into 
whose  bounds  he  was  about  to  penetrate,  and  in  short 
commenced  Indian  trader  ;  that  strange  amphibious 
animal,  who  uniting  the  acute  senses,  strong  instincts, 
and  unconquerable  patience  and  fortitude  of  the 
savage,  with  the  art,  policy,  and  inventions  of  the 
European,  encountered,  in  the  pursuit  of  gain,  dan- 
gers and  difficulties  equal  to  those  described  in  the 
romantic  legends  of  chivalry. 

The  small  bark  canoe  in  which  this  hardy  adven- 
turer embarked  himself,  his  fortune,  and  his  faithful 
squire  (who  was  generally  born  in  the  same  house, 
and  predestined  to  his  service),  was  launched  amidst 
the  tears  and  prayers  of  his  female  relations,  amongst 
whom  was  generally  included  his  destined  bride, 
who  well  knew  herself  to  be  the  motive  of  this 
perilous  adventure. 

The  canoe  was  entirely  filled  with  coarse  strouds 
and  blankets,  guns,  powder,  beads,  etc.,  suited  to 


ioo  MEMOIRS    OF 

the  various  wants  and  fancies  of  the  natives ;  one  per- 
nicious article  was  never  wanting,  and  often  made  a 
great  part  of  the  cargo.  This  was  ardent  spirits,  for 
which  the  natives  too  early  acquired  a  relish,  and 
the  possession  of  which  always  proved  dangerous, 
and  sometime  fatal  to  the  traders.  The  Mohawks 
bringing  their  furs  and  other  peltry  habitually  to 
the  stores  of  their  wonted  friends  and  patrons,  it 
was  not  in  that  easy  and  safe  direction  that  these 
trading  adventures  extended.  The  canoe  generally 
steered  northward  towards  the  Canadian  frontier. 
They  passed  by  the  flats  and  stonehook  in  the 
outset  of  their  journey.  Then  commenced  their 
toils  and  dangers  at  the  famous  water-fall  called  the 
Cohoes,  ten  miles  above  Albany,  where  three  riv- 
ers,1 uniting  their  streams  into  one,  dash  over  a 
rocky  shelf,  and  falling  into  a  gulf  below  with  great 
violence,  raise  clouds  of  mist  bedecked  with  splen- 
did rainbows.  This  was  the  Rubicon  which  they 
had  to  pass  before  they  plunged  into  pathless 
woods,  ingulphing  swamps,  and  lakes,  the  opposite 
shores  of  which  the  eye  could  not  reach.  At  the 
Cohoes  on  account  of  the  obstruction  formed  by 
the  torrent,  they  unloaded  their  canoe,  and  carried 

1  It  is  below  the  Cohoes  falls  that  the  Mohawk  becomes  several 
streams,  and  debouches  into  the  Hudson  at  four  points,  after  meander- 
ing about  and  forming  numerous  islands,  among  which  the  American 
army  constructed  fortifications  of  earth,  to  further  impede  the  progress 
of  the  British  army,  if  it  should  force  the  American  lines  at  Stillwater. 
Traces  of  these  earthworks  are  still  distinguishable  on  Van  Schaick's 
and  Haver  Islands. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        101 

it  above  a  mile  further  upon  their  shoulders,  re- 
turning again  for  the  cargo,  which  they  were  obliged 
to  transport  in  the  same  manner.  This  was  but  a 
prelude  to  labors  and  dangers,  incredible  to  those 
who  dwell  at  ease.  Further  on,  much  longer  car- 
rying places  frequently  recurred  :  where  they  had 
the  vessel  and  cargo  to  drag  through  thickets  im- 
pervious to  the  day,  abounding  with  snakes  and 
wild  beasts,  which  are  always  to  be  found  on  the 
side  of  the  rivers.1 

Their  provision  of  food  was  necessarily  small, 
for  fear  of  overloading  the  slender  and  unstable 
conveyance  already  crowded  with  goods.  A  little 
dried  beef  and  Indian  corn  meal  was  their  whole 
stock,  though  they  formerly  enjoyed  both  plenty  and 
variety.  They  were  in  a  great  measure  obliged  to 
depend  upon  their  own  skill  in  hunting  and  fishing, 
and  the  hospitality  of  the  Indians ;  for  hunting, 
indeed,  they  had  small  leisure,  their  time  being  sed- 
ulously employed  in  consequence  of  the  obstacles 
that  retarded  their  progress.  In  the  slight  and 
fragile  canoes,  they  often  had  to  cross  great  lakes, 
on  which  the  wind  raised  a  terrible  surge.  Afraid 

i  These  ancient  mynheers,  with  wonderful  perseverance  and  cour- 
age, were  forced  in  those  voyages  to  breast  the  downward  and  devious 
current  of  the  Mohawk,  with  its  rifts,  falls  and  portages,  descend  into 
Oneida  Lake,  and  follow  its  outlet  to  Oswego  ;  course  along  the  wind- 
ing shores  of  Ontario  and  Erie  to  Detroit  ;  up  that  river  to  St.  Clair  ; 
and  along  the  shores  of  Huron,  crossing  Saginaw  bay  to  Mackinac, 
where  they  traded  with  the  Indian  for  his  furs  ;  then  with  infinite  labor 
to  retrace  their  route  to  Pearl  Street,  laden  with  riches  so  hardly  earned 
as  often  to  reduce  them  to  early  decrepitude. 


102  MEMOIRS    OF 

of  going  into  the  track  of  the  French  traders,  who 
were  always  dangerous  rivals,  and  often  declared 
enemies,  they  durst  not  follow  the  direction  of  the 
river  St.  Lawrence  ;  but,  in  search  of  distant  terri- 
tories and  unknown  tribes,  were  wont  to  deviate  to 
the  east  and  southwest,  forcing  their  painful  way 
towards  the  source  of  "  rivers  unknown  to  song," 
whose  winding  course  was  often  interrupted  with 
shallows  and  oftener  still  by  fallen  trees  of  great 
magnitude  lying  across,  which  it  was  requisite  to 
cut  through  with  their  hatchets  before  they  could 
proceed.  Small  rivers  which  wind  through  fertile 
valleys,  in  this  country,  are  peculiarly  liable  to  this 
obstruction.  The  chestnut  and  hickory  grow  to  so 
large  a  size  in  this  kind  of  soil,  that  in  time  they 
become  top  heavy,  and  are  then  the  first  prey  to 
the  violence  of  the  winds  ;  and  thus  falling  form 
a  kind  of  accidental  bridge  over  these  rivers. 

When  the  toils  and  dangers  of  the  day  were  over, 
the  still  greater  terrors  of  the  night  commenced. 
In  this,  which  might  literally  be  styled  the  howling 
wilderness,  they  were  forced  to  sleep  in  the  open 
air,  which  was  frequently  loaded  with  the  humid 
evaporation  of  swamps,  ponds,  and  redundant  vege- 
tation. Here  the  axe  must  be  again  employed  to 
procure  the  materials  of  a  large  fire  even  in  the 
warmest  weather.  This  precaution  was  necessary 
that  the  flies  and  musquitoes  might  be  expelled  by 
the  smoke,  and  that  the  wolves  and  bears  might 
be  deterred  by  the  flame  from  encroaching  on  their 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       103 

place  of  rest.  But  the  light  which  afforded  them 
protection  created  fresh  disturbance. 

"Loud  as  the  wolves  on  Orca's  stormy  steep, 
Howl  to  the  roarings  of  the  northern  deep," 

the  American  wolves  howl  to  the  fires  kindled  to 
affright  them,  watching  the  whole  night  on  the  sur- 
rounding hills  to  keep  up  a  concert  which  truly 
"  rendered  night  hideous  : "  meanwhile  the  bull- 
frogs, terrible  though  harmless,  and  smaller  kinds 
of  various  tones  and  countless  numbers,  seemed  all 
night  calling  to  each  other  from  opposite  swamps, 
forming  the  most  dismal  assemblage  of  discordant 
sounds.  Though  serpents  abounded  very  much  in 
the  woods,  few  of  them  were  noxious.  The  rattle- 
snake, the  only  dangerous  reptile,  was  not  so  fre- 
quently met  with  as  in  the  neighboring  provinces, 
and  the  remedy  which  nature  has  bestowed  as  an 
antidote  to  his  bite  was  very  generally  known.  The 
beauties  of  rural  and  varied  scenery  seldom  compen- 
sated the  traveller  for  the  dangers  of  his  journey. 
"In  the  close  prison  ofinnumerous  boughs,"  and 
on  ground  thick  with  underwood,  there  was  little  of 
landscape  open  to  the  eye.  The  banks  of  streams 
and  takes  no  doubt  afforded  a  rich  variety  of  trees 
and  plants:  the  former  of  a  most  majestic  size,  the 
latter  of  singular  beauty  and  luxuriance  ;  but  other- 
wise they  only  travelled  through  a  grove  of  chest- 
nuts or  oak,  to  arrive  at  another  of  maple,  or  poplar, 
or  a  vast  stretch  of  pines  and  other  evergreens.  If 


io4  MEMOIRS    OF 

by  chance  they  arrived  at  a  hill  crowned  with  cedars, 
which  afforded  some  command  of  prospect,  still  the 
gloomy  and  interminable  forest,  only  varied  with 
different  shades  of  green,  met  the  eye  which  ever 
way  it  turned,  while  the  mind,  repelled  by  solitude 
so  vast,  and  silence  so  profound,  turned  inward  on 
itself.  Nature  here  wore  a  veil  rich  and  grand,  but 
impenetrable:  at  least  this  was  the  impression  it 
was  likely  to  make  on  an  European  mind ;  but  a 
native  American,  familiar  from  childhood  with  the 
productions  and  inhabitants  of  the  woods,  sought 
the  nuts  and  wild  fruits  with  which  they  abounded, 
the  nimble  squirrel  in  all  its  varied  forms,  the  archi- 
tect beaver,  the  savage  racoon,  and  the  stately  elk, 
where  we  should  see  nothing  but  awful  solitudes 
untrod  by  human  foot.  It  is  inconceivable  how 
well  these  young  travellers,  taught  by  their  Indian 
friends,  and  the  experimental  knowledge  of  their 
fathers,  understood  every  soil  and  its  productions. 
A  boy  of  twelve  years  old  would  astonish  you  with 
his  accurate  knowledge  of  plants,  their  properties, 
and  their  relation  to  the  soil  and  to  each  other. 
"  Here  (said  he),  is  a  wood  of  red  oak,  when  it  is 
"  grubbed  up  this  will  be  loam  and  sand,  and  make 
"  good  Indian  corn  ground.  This  chestnut  wood 
"  abounds  with  strawberries,  and  is  the  very  best 
"  soil  for  wheat.  The  poplar  wood  yonder  is  not 
"  worth  clearing ;  the  soil  is  always  wet  and  cold. 
"  There  is  a  hickory  wood,  where  the  soil  is  always 
"rich  and  deep,  and  does  not  run  out;  such  and 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        105 

"  such  plants  that  dye  blue,  or  orange,  grow  under 
"it." 

This  is  merely  a  slight  epitome  of  the  wide  views 
of  nature  that  are  laid  open  to  these  people  from 
their  very  infancy,  the  acquisition  of  this  kind 
of  knowledge  being  one  of  their  first  amusements, 
yet  those  who  were  capable  of  astonishing  you  by 
the  extent  and  variety  of  this  local  skill,  in  objects 
so  varied  and  so  complicated,  never  heard  of  a 
petal,  corolla,  or  stigma  in  their  lives,  nor  even  of 
the  strata  of  that  soil  with  the  productions  and 
properties  of  which  they  were  so  intimately  ac- 
quainted. 

Without  compass,  or  guide  of  any  kind,  the 
traders  steered  through  these  pathless  forests.  In 
those  gloomy  days  when  the  sun  is  not  visible,  or 
in  winter,  when  the  falling  snows  obscured  his 
beams,  they  made  an  incision  on  the  bark  on  the 
different  sides  of  a  tree ;  that  on  the  north  was  in- 
variably thicker  than  the  other,  and  covered  with 
moss  in  much  greater  quantity.  And  this  never 
failing  indication  of  the  polar  influence,  was  to  those 
sagacious  travellers  a  sufficient  guide.  They  had 
indeed  several  subordinate  monitors.  Knowing  so 
well  as  they  did  the  quality  of  the  soil  by  the  trees 
or  plants  most  prevalent,  they  could  avoid  a  swamp, 
or  approach  with  certainty  to  a  river  or  high  ground 
if  such  was  their  wish,  by  means  that  to  us  would 
seem  incomprehensible.  Even  the  savages  seldom 
visited  these  districts,  except  in  the  dead  of  winter ; 


106  MEMOIRS    OF 

they  had  towns,  as  they  called  their  summer  dwell- 
ings, on  the  banks  of  the  lakes  and  rivers  in  the 
interior,  where  their  great  fishing  places  were.  In 
the  winter,  their  grand  hunting  parties  were  in  places 
more  remote  from  our  boundaries,  where  the  deer 
and  other  larger  animals  took  shelter  from  the 
neighborhood  of  man.  These  single  adventurers 
sought  the  Indians  in  their  spring  haunts  as  soon  as 
the  rivers  were  open ;  there  they  had  new  dangers 
to  apprehend.  It  is  well  known  that  among  the 
natives  of  America,  revenge  was  actually  a  virtue, 
and  retaliation  a  positive  duty  :  while  faith  was  kept 
with  these  people  they  never  became  aggressors. 
But  the  Europeans,  by  the  force  of  bad  example, 
and  strong  liquors,  seduced  them  from  their  wonted 
probity.  Yet  from  the  first  their  notion  of  justice 
and  revenge  was  of  that  vague  and  general  nature, 
that  if  they  considered  themselves  injured,  or  if  one 
of  their  tribe  had  been  killed  by  an  inhabitant  of 
any  one  of  our  settlements,  they  considered  any  in- 
dividual of  our  nation  as  a  proper  subject  for 
retribution.  This  seldom  happened  among  our 
allies  ;  never  indeed,  but  when  the  injury  was  obvi- 
ous, and  our  people  very  culpable.  But  the  avidity 
of  gain  often  led  our  traders  to  deal  with  Indians, 
among  whom  the  French  possessed  a  degree  of  in- 
fluence, which  produced  a  smothered  animosity  to 
our  nation.  When  at  length,  after  conquering 
numberless  obstacles,  they  arrived  at  the  place  of 
their  destination,  these  daring  adventurers  found 


AN    AMERICAN     LADY       107 

occasion  for  no  little  address,  patience,  and  indeed 
courage,  before  they  could  dispose  of  their  cargo, 
and  return  safely  with  the  profits. 

The  successful  trader  had  now  laid  the  foundation 
of  his  fortune,  and  approved  himself  worthy  of  her 
for  whose  sake  he  encountered  all  these  dangers. 
It  is  utterly  inconceivable,  how  even  a  single  season, 
spent  in  this  manner,  ripened  the  mind,  and  changed 
the  whole  appearance,  nay  the  very  character  of  the 
countenance  of  these  demi-savages,  for  such  they 
seem  on  returning  from  among  their  friends  in  the 
forests.  Lofty,  sedate,  and  collected,  they  seem 
masters  of  themselves,  and  independent  of  others ; 
though  sun-burnt  and  austere,  one  scarce  knows 
them  till  they  unbend.  By  this  Indian  likeness,  I 
do  not  think  them  by  any  means  degraded.  One 
must  have  seen  these  people  (the  Indians  I  mean), 
to  have  any  idea  what  a  noble  animal  man  is,  while 
unsophisticated.  I  have  been  often  amused  with 
the  descriptions  that  philosophers,  in  their  closets, 
who  never  in  their  lives  saw  man  but  in  his  im- 
proved or  degraded  state,  give  of  uncivilized  people ; 
not  recollecting  that  they  are  at  the  same  time  un- 
corrupted.  Voyagers,  who  have  not  their  language, 
and  merely  see  them  transiently,  to  wonder  and  be 
wondered  at,  are  equally  strangers  to  the  real  char- 
acter of  man  in  a  social,  though  unpolished  state. 
It  is  no  criterion  to  judge  of  this  state  of  society  by 
the  roaming  savages  (truly  such)  who  are  met  with 
on  these  inhospitable  coasts  where  nature  is  nig- 


io8  MEMOIRS    OF 

gardly  of  her  gifts,  and  where  the  skies  frown  con- 
tinually on  her  hard-fated  children.  For  some 
good  reason  to  us  unknown,  it  is  requisite  that 
human  beings  should  be  scattered  through  all  habi- 
table space,  "  till  gradual  life  goes  out  beneath  the 
pole : "  and  to  beings  so  destined,  what  misery 
would  result  from  social  tenderness  and  fine  percep- 
tions. Of  the  class  of  social  beings  (for  such  indeed 
they  were)  of  whom  I  speak,  let  us  judge  from  the 
traders  who  know  their  language  and  customs,  and 
from  the  adopted  prisoners  who  have  spent  years 
among  them.  How  unequivocal,  how  consistent  is 
the  testimony  they  bear  to  their  humanity,  friend- 
ship, fortitude,  fidelity,  and  generosity  ;  but  the  in- 
dulgence of  the  recollections  thus  suggested  have 
already  led  me  too  far  from  my  subject. 

The  joy  that  the  return  of  these  youths  occa- 
sioned was  proportioned  to  the  anxiety  their  peri- 
lous journey  had  produced.  In  some  instances  the 
union  of  the  lovers  immediately  took  place  before 
the  next  career  of  gainful  hardships  commenced. 
But  the  more  cautious  went  to  New  York  in 
winter,  disposed  of  their  peltry,  purchased  a  larger 
cargo,  and  another  slave  and  canoe.  The  next 
year  they  laid  out  the  profits  of  their  former  adven- 
tures in  flour  and  provisions,  the  staple  of  the 
province;  this  they  disposed  of  at  the  Bermuda 
islands,  where  they  generally  purchased  one  of  those 
light  sailing,  cedar  schooners,  for  building  of  which 
those  islanders  are  famous,  and  proceeding  to  the 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       109 

leeward  islands  loaded  it  with  a  cargo  of  rum,  sugar 
and  molasses. 

They  were  now  ripened  into  men,  and  considered 
as  active  and  useful  members  of  society,  possessing 
a  stake  in  the  common  weal. 

The  young  adventurer  had  generally  finished 
this  process  by  the  time  he  was  one,  or  at  most, 
two  and  twenty.  He  now  married,  or  if  married 
before,  which  pretty  often  was  the  case,  brought 
home  his  wife  to  a  house  of  his  own.  Either  he 
kept  his  schooner,  and  loading  her  with  produce, 
sailed  up  and  down  the  river  all  summer,  and  all 
winter  disposed  of  the  cargoes  he  obtained  in  ex- 
change to  more  distant  settlers;  or  he  sold  her, 
purchased  European  goods,  and  kept  a  store. 
Otherwise  he  settled  in  the  country,  and  became 
as  diligent  in  his  agricultural  pursuits  as  if  he 
had  never  known  any  other. 


Chapter  X 

MARRIAGES,   AMUSEMENTS,   RURAL  EXCUR- 
SIONS, ETC. 

IT  was  in  this  manner  that  the  young  colonist 
made  the  transition  from  boyhood  to  manhood ; 
from  the  disengaged  and  careless  bachelor,  to  the 
provident  and  thoughtful  father  of  a  family  ;  and 
thus  was  spent  that  period  of  life  so  critical  in  pol- 
ished society  to  those  whose  condition  exempts 
them  from  manual  labor.  Love,  undiminished  by 
any  rival  passion,  and  cherished  by  innocence  and 
candor,  was  here  fixed  by  the  power  of  early  habit, 
and  strengthened  by  similarity  of  education,  tastes, 
and  attachments.  Inconstancy,  or  even  indifference 
among  married  couples  was  unheard  of,  even  where 
there  happened  to  be  a  considerable  disparity  in 
point  of  intellect.  The  extreme  affection  they  bore 
their  mutual  offspring  was  a  bond  that  for  ever  en- 
deared them  to  each  other.  Marriage  in  this  colony 
was  always  early,  very  often  happy,  and  very  seldom 
indeed  interested.  When  a  man  had  no  son,  there 
was  nothing  to  be  expected  with  a  daughter,  but  a 
well  brought  up  female  slave,  and  the  furniture  of 
the  best  bed-chamber.  At  the  death  of  her  father 
she  obtained  another  division  of  his  effects,  such  as 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       in 

he  thought  she  needed  or  deserved,  for  there  was 
no  rule  in  these  cases. 

Such  was  the  manner  in  which  those  colonists 
began  life :  nor  must  it  be  thought  that  those  were 
mean  or  uninformed  persons.  Patriots,  magistrates, 
generals,  those  who  were  afterwards  wealthy,  power- 
ful and  distinguished,  all,  except  a  few  elder  broth- 
ers, occupied  by  their  possessions  at  home,  set  out 
in  the  same  manner  ;  and  in  after  life,  even  in  the 
most  prosperous  circumstances,  they  delighted  to 
recount  the  "humble  toils  and  destiny  obscure" 
of  their  early  years. 

The  very  idea  of  being  ashamed  of  anything  that 
was  neither  vicious  nor  indecent  never  entered  an 
Albanian  head.  Early  accustomed  to  this  noble 
simplicity,  this  dignified  candor,  I  cannot  express 
the  contempt  and  disgust  I  felt  at  the  shame  of 
honorable  poverty,  the  extreme  desire  of  concealing 
our  real  condition,  and  appearing  what  we  are  not, 
that  peculiarly  characterizes,  I  had  almost  said  dis- 
graces, the  northern  part  more  particularly  of  this 
island.  I  have  often  wondered  how  this  vile  senti- 
ment, that  undermines  all  true  greatness  of  mind, 
should  prevail  more  here  than  in  England,  where 
wealth,  beyond  a  doubt,  is  more  respected,  at  least 
preponderates  more  over  birth,  and  heart,  and  mind, 
and  many  other  valuable  considerations.  As  a 
people  we  certainly  are  not  sordid,  why  then  should 
we  descend  to  the  meanness  of  being  ashamed  of 
our  condition,  while  we  have  not  done  anything  to 


ii2  MEMOIRS    OF 

degrade  ourselves  ?  Why  add  a  sting  to  poverty, 
and  a  plume  to  vanity,  by  the  poor  transparent  ar- 
tifice that  conceals  nothing,  and  only  changes  pity 
into  scorn  ? 

Before  I  quit  the  subject  of  Albanian  manners,  I 
must  describe  their  amusements,  and  some  other 
peculiarities  in  their  modes  of  life.  When  I  say 
their  amusements,  I  mean  those  in  which  they  dif- 
fered from  most  other  people.  Such  as  they  had 
in  common  with  others  require  no  description. 
They  were  exceedingly  social,  and  visited  each  other 
very  frequently,  beside  the  regular  assembling  to- 
gether in  porches  every  fine  evening.  Of  the  more 
substantial  luxuries  of  the  table  they  knew  little, 
and  of  the  formal  and  ceremonious  parts  of  good 
breeding  still  less. 

If  you  went  to  spend  a  day  anywhere,  you  were 
received  in  a  manner  we  should  think  very  cold. 
No  one  rose  to  welcome  you  ;  no  one  wondered 
you  had  not  come  sooner,  or  apologized  for  any 
deficiency  in  your  entertainment.  Dinner,  which 
was  very  early,  was  served  exactly  in  the  same  manner 
as  if  there  were  only  the  family.  The  house  indeed 
was  so  exquisitely  neat  and  well  regulated,  that  you 
could  not  surprise  them;  and  they  saw  each  other 
so  often  and  so  easily,  that  intimates  made  no  dif- 
ference. Of  strangers  they  were  shy :  not  by  any 
means  from  want  of  hospitality,  but  from  a  con- 
sciousness that  people  who  had  little  to  value  them- 
selves on  but  their  knowledge  of  the  modes  and 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       113 

ceremonies  of  polished  life,  disliked  their  sincerity, 
and  despised  their  simplicity.  If  you  showed  no 
insolent  wonder,  but  easily  and  quietly  adopted 
their  manners,  you  would  receive  from  them  not 
only  very  great  civility,  but  much  essential  kind- 
ness. Whoever  has  not  common  sense  and  com- 
mon gratitude  enough  to  pay  this  tribute  of 
accommodation  to  those  among  whom  he  is  des- 
tined for  the  time  to  live,  must  of  course  be  an 
insulated,  discontented  being ;  and  come  home  rail- 
ing at  the  people  whose  social  comforts  he  dis- 
dained to  partake.  After  sharing  this  plain  and 
unceremonious  dinner,  which  might,  by  the  bye, 
chance  to  be  a  very  good  one,  but  was  invariably 
that  which  was  meant  for  the  family,  tea  was  served 
in  at  a  very  early  hour.  And  here  it  was  that  the 
distinction  shown  to  strangers  commenced.  Tea 
here  was  a  perfect  regale ;  accompanied  by  various 
sort  of  cakes  unknown  to  us,  cold  pastry,  and  great 
quantities  of  sweetmeats  and  preserved  fruits  of 
various  kinds,  and  plates  of  hickory  and  other  nuts 
ready  cracked.  In  all  manner  of  confectionery  and 
pastry  these  people  excelled  ;  and  having  fruit  in 
great  abundance,  which  costs  them  nothing,  and 
getting  sugar  home  at  an  easy  rate,  in  return  for 
their  exports  to  the  West  Indies,  the  quantity  of 
these  articles  used  in  families,  otherwise  plain  and 
frugal,  was  astonishing.  Tea  was  never  unaccom- 
panied with  some  of  these  petty  articles ;  but  for 
strangers  a  great  display  was  made.  If  you  staid 

VOL.  I.  —  8 


ii4  MEMOIRS    OF 

supper,  you  were  sure  of  a  most  substantial  though 
plain  one.  In  this  meal  they  departed,  out  of  com- 
pliment to  the  strangers,  from  their  usual  simplicity. 
Having  dined  between  twelve  and  one  you  were 
quite  prepared  for  it.  You  had  either  game  or 
poultry  roasted,  and  always  shell-fish  in  the  season : 
you  had  also  fruit  in  abundance.  All  this  with 
much  neatness,  but  no  form.  The  seeming  cold- 
ness with  which  you  were  first  received,  wore  off  by 
degrees.  They  could  not  accommodate  their  topics 
to  you,  and  scarcely  attempted  it.  But  the  conver- 
sation of  the  old,  though  limited  in  regard  to  sub- 
jects, was  rational  and  easy,  and  had  in  it  an  air  of 
originality  and  truth  not  without  its  attractions. 
That  of  the  young  was  natural  and  playful  yet  full 
of  localities,  which  lessened  its  interest  to  a  stranger, 
but  which  were  extremely  amusing  when  you  became 
one  of  the  initiated. 

Their  amusements  were  marked  by  a  simplicity 
which,  to  strangers,  appeared  rude  and  childish 
(I  mean  those  of  the  younger  class).  In  spring, 
eight  or  ten  of  the  young  people  of  one  company, 
or  related  to  each  other,  young  men  and  maidens, 
would  set  out  together  in  a  canoe  on  a  kind  of 
rural  excursion,  of  which  amusement  was  the 
object.  Yet  so  fixed  were  their  habits  of  industry, 
that  they  never  failed  to  carry  their  work-baskets 
with  them,  not  as  a  form,  but  as  an  ingredient 
necessarily  mixed  with  their  pleasures.  They  had 
no  attendants  ;  and  steered  a  devious  course  of 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       115 

four,  five,  or  perhaps  more  miles,  till  they  arrived 
at  some  of  the  beautiful  islands  with  which  this 
fine  river  abounded,  or  at  some  sequestered  spot 
on  its  banks,  where  delicious  wild  fruits,  or  par- 
ticular conveniences  for  fishing,  afforded  some 
attraction.  There  they  generally  arrived  by  nine 
or  ten  o'clock,  having  set  out  in  the  cool  and 
early  hour  of  sunrise.  Often  they  met  another 
party  going,  perhaps,  to  a  different  place,  and 
joined  them,  or  induced  them  to  take  their  route. 
A  basket  with  tea,  sugar,  and  the  other  usual 
provisions  for  breakfast,  with  the  apparatus  for 
cooking  it ;  a  little  rum  and  fruit  for  making  cool 
weak  punch,  the  usual  beverage  in  the  middle  of 
the  day,  and  now  and  then  some  cold  pastry,  was 
the  sole  provision ;  for  the  great  affair  was  to 
depend  on  the  sole  exertions  of  the  boys,  in  pro- 
curing fish,  wild  ducks,  etc.,  for  their  dinner. 
They  were  all,  like  Indians,  ready  and  dexterous 
with  the  axe,  gun,  etc.  Whenever  they  arrived 
at  their  destination  they  sought  out  a  dry  and 
beautiful  spot  opposite  to  the  river,  and  in  an 
instant  with  their  axes  cleared  so  much  super- 
fluous shade  or  shrubbery  as  left  a  semicircular 
opening,  above  which  they  bent  and  twined  the 
boughs,  so  as  to  form  a  pleasant  bower,  while 
the  girls  gathered  dried  branches,  to  which  one 
of  the  youths  soon  set  fire  with  gun  powder, 
and  the  breakfast,  a  very  regular  and  cheerful 
one,  occupied  an  hour  or  two;  the  young  men 


ii6  MEMOIRS    OF 

then  set  out  to  fish,  or  perhaps  shoot  birds,  and 
the  maidens  sat  busily  down  to  their  work,  singing 
and  conversing  with  all  the  ease  and  gaiety  the 
bright  serenity  of  the  atmosphere  and  beauty  of 
the  surrounding  scene  were  calculated  to  inspire. 
After  the  sultry  hours  had  been  thus  employed, 
the  boys  brought  their  tribute  from  the  river  or 
the  wood,  and  found  a  rural  meal  prepared  by 
their  fair  companions,  among  whom  were  generally 
their  sisters  and  the  chosen  of  their  hearts.  After 
dinner  they  all  set  out  together  to  gather  wild 
strawberries,  or  whatever  other  fruit  was  in  season ; 
for  it  was  accounted  a  reflection  to  come  home 
empty  handed.  When  wearied  of  this  amusement, 
they  either  drank  tea  in  their  bower,  or,  returning, 
landed  at  some  friend's  on  the  way,  to  partake 
of  that  refreshment.  Here,  indeed, 

"Youth's  free  spirit,  innocently  gay, 
Enjoyed  the  most  that  innocence  could  give." 

Another  of  their  summer  amusements  was  going 
to  the  bush,  which  was  thus  managed  :  a  party 
of  young  people  set  out  in  little  open  carriages, 
something  in  the  form  of  a  gig,  of  which  every 
family  had  one ;  every  one  carried  something  with 
him,  as  in  these  cases  there  was  no  hunting  to  add 
provision.  One  brought  wine  for  negus,  another 
tea  and  coffee  of  a  superior  quality,  a  third  a 
pigeon  pie ;  in  short,  every  one  brought  some- 
thing, no  matter  how  trifling,  for  there  was  no 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        117 

emulation  about  the  extent  of  the  contribution. 
In  this  same  bush,  there  were  spots  to  which  the 
poorer  members  of  the  community  retired,  to  work 
their  way  with  patient  industry,  through  much 
privation  and  hardship,  compared  to  the  plenty 
and  comfort  enjoyed  by  the  rest.  They  perhaps 
could  only  afford  to  have  one  negro  woman,  whose 
children  as  they  grew  up,  became  to  their  master 
a  source  of  plenty  and  ease ;  but  in  the  meantime 
the  good  man  wrought  hard  himself,  with  a  little 
occasional  aid  sent  him  by  his  friends.  He  had 
plenty  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  but  no  luxuries. 
His  wife  and  daughter  milked  the  cows  and 
wrought  at  the  hay,  and  his  house  was  on  a 
smaller  scale  than  the  older  settlers  had  theirs, 
yet  he  had  always  one  neatly  furnished  room,  a 
very  clean  house,  with  a  pleasant  portico  before 
it,  generally  a  fine  stream  beside  his  dwelling,  and 
some  Indian  wigwams  near  it.  He  was  wood- 
surrounded,  and  seemed  absolutely  to  live  in  the 
bosom  of  nature,  screened  from  all  the  artificial 
ills  of  life;  and  those  spots  cleared  of  incum- 
brances,  yet  rich  in  native  luxuriance,  had  a  wild 
originality  about  them  not  easily  described.  The 
young  parties,  or  sometimes  elder  ones,  who  set 
out  on  this  woodland  excursion,  had  no  fixed 
destination,  they  went  generally  in  the  forenoon, 
and  when  they  were  tired  of  going  on  the  ordinary 
road,  turned  into  the  bush,  and  whenever  they  saw 
an  inhabited  spot,  with  the  appearance  of  which 


u8  MEMOIRS 

they  were  pleased,  went  in  with  all  the  ease  of 
intimacy,  and  told  them  they  were  come  to  spend 
the  afternoon  there.  The  good  people,  not  in  the 
least  surprised  at  this  incursion,  very  calmly  opened 
the  reserved  apartments,  or  if  it  were  very  hot, 
received  them  in  the  portico.  The  guests  pro- 
duced their  stores,  and  they  boiled  their  tea-kettle, 
and  provided  cream,  nuts,  or  any  peculiar  dainty 
of  the  woods  which  they  chanced  to  have;  and 
they  always  furnished  bread  and  butter,  which 
they  had  excellent  of  their  kinds.  They  were  in- 
vited to  share  the  collation,  which  they  did  with 
great  ease  and  frankness ;  then  dancing,  or  any 
other  amusement  that  struck  their  fancy,  succeeded. 
They  sauntered  about  the  bounds  in  the  evening, 
and  returned  by  moonlight.  These  good  people 
felt  not  the  least  embarrassed  at  the  rustic  plain- 
ness of  everything  about  them ;  they  considered 
themselves  as  on  the  way,  after  a  little  longer 
exertion  of  patient  industry,  to  have  every  thing 
that  the  others  had  ;  and  their  guests  thought  it 
an  agreeable  variety  in  this  abrupt  manner  to  visit 
their  sequestered  abodes. 


Chapter  XI 

WINTER  AMUSEMENTS,  ETC. 

IN  winter,  the  river,  frozen  to  a  great  depth, 
formed  the  principal  road  through  the  country, 
and  was  the  scene  of  all  those  amusements  of  skat- 
ing and  sledge  races,  common  to  the  north  of 
Europe.  They  used  in  great  parties  to  visit  their 
friends  at  a  distance,  and  having  an  excellent  and 
hardy  breed  of  horses,  flew  from  place  to  place  over 
the  snow  or  ice  in  these  sledges  with  incredible 
rapidity,  stopping  a  little  while  at  every  house  they 
came  to,  and  always  well  received,  whether  acquainted 
with  the  owners  or  not.  The  night  never  impeded 
these  travellers,  for  the  atmosphere  was  so  pure  and 
serene,  and  the  snow  so  reflected  the  moon  and  star- 
light, that  the  nights  exceeded  the  days  in  beauty. 
In  town  all  the  boys  were  extravagantly  fond  of  a 
diversion  that  to  us  would  appear  a  very  odd  and 
childish  one.  The  great  street  of  the  town,  in  the 
midst  of  which,  as  has  been  formerly  mentioned, 
stood  all  the  churches  and  public  buildings,  sloped 
down  from  the  hill  on  which  the  fort  stood,  towards 
the  river;  between  the  buildings  was  an  unpaved 
carriage  road,  the  foot-path  beside  the  houses  being 


120  MEMOIRS    OF 

the  only  part  of  the  street  which  was  paved.  In 
winter  this  sloping  descent,  continued  for  more  than 
a  quarter  of  a  mile,  acquired  firmness  from  the  frost, 
and  became  extremely  slippery.  Then  the  amuse- 
ment commenced.  Every  boy  and  youth  in  town, 
from  eight  to  eighteen,  had  a  little  low  sledge,  made 
with  a  rope  like  a  bridle  to  the  front,  by  which  it 
could  be  dragged  after  one  by  the  hand.  On  this 
one  or  two  at  most  could  sit,  and  this  sloping  de- 
scent being  made  as  smooth  as  a  looking  glass,  by 
sliders'  sledges,  etc.,  perhaps  a  hundred  at  once  set 
out  in  succession  from  the  top  of  this  street,  each 
seated  in  his  little  sledge  with  the  rope  in  his  hand, 
which,  drawn  to  the  right  or  left,  served  to  guide 
him.  He  pushed  it  off  with  a  little  stick,  as  one 
would  launch  a  boat ;  and  then,  with  the  most  aston- 
ishing velocity,  precipitated  by  the  weight  of  the 
owner,  the  little  machine  glided  past,  and  was  at  the 
lower  end  of  the  street  in  an  instant.  What  could 
be  so  delightful  in  this  "rapid  and  smooth  descent  I 
could  never  discover ;  though  in  a  more  retired 
place,  and  on  a  smaller  scale,  I  have  tried  the 
amusement ;  but  to  a  young  Albanian,  sleighing  as 
he  called  it,  was  one  of  the  first  joys  of  life,  though 
attended  by  the  drawback  of  walking  to  the  top  of 
the  declivity  dragging  his  sledge  every  time  he  re- 
newed his  flight,  for  such  it  might  well  be  called. 
In  the  managing  this  little  machine  some  dexterity 
was  necessary  ;  an  unskillful  Phaeton  was  sure  to 
fall.  The  conveyance  was  so  low,  that  a  fall  was 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       121 

attended  with  little  danger,  yet  with  much  disgrace, 
for  an  universal  laugh  from  all  sides  assailed  the 
fallen  charioteer.  This  laugh  was  from  a  very  full 
chorus,  for  the  constant  and  rapid  succession  of  this 
procession,  where  every  one  had  a  brother,  lover,  or 
kinsman,  brought  all  the  young  people  in  town  to 
the  porticos,  where  they  used  to  sit  wrapt  in  furs 
till  ten  or  eleven  at  night,  engrossed  by  this  delec- 
table spectacle.  What  magical  attraction  it  could 
possibly  have,  I  never  could  find  out;  but  I  have 
known  an  Albanian,  after  residing  some  years  in 
Britain,  and  becoming  a  polished  fine  gentleman, 
join  the  sport,  and  slide  down  with  the  rest.  Per- 
haps, after  all  our  laborious  refinements  in  amuse- 
ment, being  easily  pleased  is  one  of  the  great  secrets 
of  happiness,  as  far  as  it  is  attainable  in  this  "  frail 
and  feverish  being." 

Now  there  remains  another  amusement  to  be  de- 
scribed, which  I  mention  with  reluctance,  and  should 
scarce  venture  to  mention  at  all  had  I  not  found  a 
precedent  for  it  among  the  virtuous  Spartans.  Had 
Lycurgus  himself  been  the  founder  of  their  com- 
munity, the  young  men  could  scarce  have  stolen 
with  more  alacrity  and  dexterity.  I  could  never 
conjecture  how  the  custom  could  possibly  originate 
among  a  set  of  people  of  such  perfect  and  plain 
integrity.  But  thus  it  was.  The  young  men  now 
and  then  spent  a  convivial  evening  at  a  tavern  to- 
gether, where,  from  the  extreme  cheapness  of  liquor, 
their  bills  (even  when  they  committed  an  occasional 


122  MEMOIRS    OF 

excess)  were  very  moderate.  Either  to  lessen  the 
expense  of  the  supper,  or  from  the  pure  love  of  what 
they  styled  frolic  (Anglice  mischief),  they  never 
failed  to  steal  either  a  roasting  pig  or  a  fat  turkey 
for  this  festive  occasion.  The  town  was  the  scene 
of  these  depredations,  which  never  extended  beyond 
it.  Swine  and  turkeys  were  reared  in  great  numbers 
by  all  the  inhabitants.  For  those  they  brought  to 
town  in  winter,  they  had  an  appropriate  place  at  the 
lower  end  of  the  garden,  in  which  they  were  locked 
up.  It  is  observable,  that  these  animals  were  the 
only  things  locked  up  about  the  house,  for  this  good 
reason,  that  nothing  else  ran  the  least  risk  of  being 
stolen.  The  dexterity  of  the  theft  consisting  in 
climbing  over  very  high  walls,  watching  to  steal  in 
when  the  negroes  went  down  to  feed  the  horse  or 
cow,  or  making  a  clandestine  entrance  at  some  win- 
dow or  aperture  ;  breaking  up  doors  was  quite  out 
of  rule,  and  rarely  ever  resorted  to.  These  exploits 
were  always  performed  in  the  darkest  nights  ;  if  the 
owner  heard  a  noise  in  his  stables,  he  usually  ran 
down  with  a  cudgel,  and  laid  it  without  mercy  on 
any  culprit  he  could  overtake.  This  was  either 
dexterously  avoided  or  patiently  borne.  To  plunder 
a  man,  and  afterwards  offer  him  any  personal  injury, 
was  accounted  scandalous  ;  but  the  turkeys  or  pigs 
were  never  recovered.  In  some  instances  a  whole 
band  of  these  young  plunderers  would  traverse  the 
town,  and  carry  off  such  a  prey  as  would  afford 
provision  for  many  jovial  nights.  Nothing  was 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       123 

more  common  than  to  find  one's  brothers  or  nephews 
amongst  these  pillagers. 

Marriage  was  followed  by  two  dreadful  priva- 
tions :  a  married  man  could  not  fly  down  the  street 
in  a  little  sledge,  or  join  a  party  of  pig  stealers, 
without  outraging  decorum.  If  any  of  their  con- 
federates married,  as  they  frequently  did,  very 
young,  and  were  in  circumstances  to  begin  house- 
keeping, they  were  sure  of  an  early  visit  of  this 
nature  from  their  old  confederates.  It  was  thought 
a  great  act  of  gallantry  to  overtake  and  chastise  the 
robbers.  I  recollect  an  instance  of  one  young  mar- 
ried man,  who  had  not  long  attained  to  that  dignity, 
whose  turkeys  screaming  violently  one  night,  he 
ran  down  to  chastise  the  aggressors ;  he  overtook 
them  in  the  fact :  but  finding  they  were  his  old  as- 
sociates, could  not  resist  the  force  of  habit,  joined 
the  rest  in  another  exploit  of  the  same  nature,  and 
then  shared  his  own  turkey  at  the  tavern.  There 
were  two  inns  in  the  town,  the  masters  of  which  were 
"  honorable  men  ;  "  yet  these  pigs  and  turkeys  were 
always  received  and  dressed  without  question- 
ing whence  they  came.  In  one  instance,  a  young 
party  had  in  this  manner  provided  a  pig,  and  or- 
dered it  to  be  roasted  at  the  King's  Arms;  another 
party  attacked  the  same  place  whence  this  booty 
was  taken,  but  found  it  already  rifled.  This  party 
was  headed  by  an  idle  mischievous  young  man, 
who  was  the  Ned  Poins  of  his  fraternity ;  well 
guessing  how  the  stolen  roasting  pig  was  disposed 


i24  MEMOIRS    OF 

of,  he  ordered  his  friends  to  adjourn  to  the  rival 
tavern,  and  went  himself  to  the  King's  Arms.1  In- 
quiring in  the  kitchen  (where  a  pig  was  roasting) 
who  supped  there,  he  soon  arrived  at  certainty  :  then 
taking  an  opportunity  when  there  was  no  one  in  the 
kitchen  but  the  cook-maid,  he  sent  for  one  of  the  jo- 
vial party,  who  were  at  cards  up  stairs.  During  her 
absence,  he  cut  the  string  by  which  the  pig  was  sus- 
pended, laid  it  in  the  dripping  pan,  and  through  the 
quiet  and  dark  streets  of  that  sober  city,  carried  it 
safely  to  the  other  tavern  :  where,  after  finishing  the 
roasting,  he  and  his  companions  prepared  to  regale 
themselves.  Meantime  the  pig  was  missed  at  the 
King's  Arms  ;  and  it  was  immediately  concluded, 
from  the  dexterity  and  address  with  which  this  trick 
was  performed,  that  no  other  but  the  Poins  afore- 
said could  be  the  author  of  it.  A  new  stratagem 
was  now  devised  to  outwit  this  stealer  of  the  stolen. 
An  adventurous  youth  of  the  despoiled  party  laid 
down  a  parcel  of  shavings  opposite  to  the  other 
tavern,  and  setting  them  in  a  blaze,  cried  fire  !  a 
most  alarming  sound  here,  where  such  accidents 
were  too  frequent.  Every  one  rushed  out  of  the 
house,  where  supper  had  been  just  served.  The 
dexterous  purveyor,  who  had  occasioned  all  this 
disturbance,  stole  in,  snatched  up  the  dish  with 

1  This  tavern  was  on  the  north-west  corner  of  Green  and  Beaver 
Streets,  the  sign  of  which  bore  the  effigy  of  King  George.  One  of 
the  early  outbursts  of  patriotism  in  the  Revolution  spent  its  fury  in 
wresting  this  obnoxious  emblem  of  royalty  from  its  hangings,  and  it 
was  burnt  in  State  Street. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        125 

the  pig  in  it,  stole  out  again  by  the  back  door,  and 
feasted  his  companions  with  the  recovered  spoils. 

These  were  a  few  idle  young  men,  the  sons  of  avari- 
cious fathers,  who,  grudging  to  advance  the  means 
of  pushing  them  forward  by  the  help  of  their  own 
industry  to  independence,  allowed  them  to  remain 
so  long  unoccupied,  that  their  time  was  wasted,  and 
habits  of  conviviality  at  length  degenerated  in  those 
of  dissipation.  These  were  not  only  pitied  and  en- 
dured, but  received  jvith  a  degree  of  kindness  and  in- 
dulgence that  was  wonderful.  They  were  usually  a 
kind  of  wags,  went  about  like  privileged  persons,  at 
whose  jests  no  one  took  offence  ;  and  were  in  their 
discourse  and  style  of  humor,  so  much  like  Shakes- 
peare's clowns,  that  on  reading  that  admirable  author, 
I  thought  I  recognized  my  old  acquaintances.  Of 
these,  however,  I  saw  little,  the  society  admitted  at 
my  friend's  being  very  select. 


Chapter  XII 

LAY-BROTHERS  —  MISS  SCHUYLER—  DETACHED 
INDIANS 

BEFORE  I  quit  this  attempt  to  delineate  the 
members  of  which  this  community  was  com- 
posed, I  must  mention  a  class  of  aged  persons,  who, 
united  by  the  same  recollections,  pursuits,  and  top- 
ics, associated  very  much  with  each  other,  and  very 
little  with  a  world  which  they  seemed  to  have  re- 
nounced. They  might  be  styled  lay-brothers,  and 
were  usually  widowers,  or  persons,  who,  in  conse- 
quence of  some  early  disappointment,  had  remained 
unmarried.  These  were  not  devotees  who  had,  as 
was  formerly  often  the  case  in  Catholic  countries, 
run  from  the  extreme  of  licentiousness  to  that  of  big- 
otry. They  were  generally  persons  who  were  never 
marked  as  being  irreligious  or  immoral ;  and  just 
as  little  distinguished  for  peculiar  strictness,  or  de- 
votional fervor.  These  good  men  lived  in  the 
house  of  some  relation,  where  they  had  their  own 
apartments  to  themselves  ;  and  only  occasionally 
mixed  with  the  family.  The  people  of  the  town 
lived  to  a  great  age  ;  ninety  was  frequently  attained  ; 
and  I  have  seen  different  individuals  of  both  sexes 
who  had  reached  an  hundred.  These  ancients 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        127 

seemed  to  place  all  their  delight  in  pious  books  and 
devotional  exercises  particularly  in  singing  psalms, 
which  they  would  do  in  their  own  apartments  for 
hours  together.  They  came  out  and  in  like  ghosts, 
and  were  treated  in  the  same  manner;  for  they 
never  spoke  unless  when  addressed,  and  seemed 
very  careless  of  the  things  of  this  world,  like  people 
who  had  got  above  it.  Yet  they  were  much  together, 
and  seemed  to  enjoy  each  other's  conversation. 
Retrospection  on  the  scenes  of  early  life,  anticipa- 
tion of  that  futurity  so  closely  veiled  from  our 
sight,  and  discussions  regarding  different  passages 
of  holy  writ  seemed  their  favorite  themes.  They 
were  mild  and  benevolent,  but  abstracted,  and 
unlike  other  people.  Their  happiness,  for  happy 
I  am  convinced  they  were,  was  of  a  nature  peculiar 
to  themselves,  not  obvious  to  others.  Others  there 
were  not  deficient  in  their  attention  to  religious 
duties,  who  living  in  the  bosom  of  their  families, 
took  an  active  and  cheerful  concern  to  the  last  in 
all  that  amused  or  interested  them  ;  and  I  never 
understood  that  the  lay-brothers,  as  I  have  chosen 
to  call  them,  blamed  them  for  so  doing.  One  of 
the  first  Christian  virtues,  charity,  in  the  most  ob- 
vious and  common  sense  of  the  word,  had  little 
scope.  Here  a  beggar  was  unheard  of.  People, 
such  as  I  have  described  in  the  bush,  or  going  there, 
were  no  more  considered  as  objects  of  pity,  than  we 
consider  an  apprentice  as  such  for  having  to  serve 
his  time  before  he  sets  up  for  himself.  In  such 


ia8  MEMOIRS    OF 

cases,  the  wealthier,  because  older  settlers,  frequently 
gave  a  heifer  or  colt  each  to  a  new  beginner,  who 
set  about  clearing  land  in  their  vicinity.  Orphans 
were  never  neglected;  and  from  their  early  mar- 
riages, and  the  casualties  their  manner  of  life  sub- 
jected them  to,  these  were  not  unfrequent.  You 
never  entered  a  house  without  meeting  children. 
Maidens,  bachelors,  and  childless  married  people, 
all  adopted  orphans,  and  all  treated  them  as  if  they 
were  their  own. 

Having  given  a  sketch,  that  appears  to  my  recol- 
lection (aided  by  subsequent  conversations  with  my 
fellow  travellers)  a  faithful  one,  of  the  country  and 
its  inhabitants,  it  is  time  to  return  to  the  history  of 
the  mind  of  Miss  Schuyler,  for  by  no  other  circum- 
stances than  prematurity  of  intellect,  and  superior 
culture,  were  her  earliest  years  distinguished.  Her 
father,1  dying  early,  left  her  very  much  to  the  tui- 
tion of  his  brother.2  Her  uncle's  frontier  situation 
made  him  a  kind  of  barrier  to  the  settlement; 
while  the  powerful  influence,  that  his  knowledge  of 
nature  and  of  character,  his  sound  judgment  and 
unstained  integrity,  had  obtained  over  both  parties, 
made  him  the  bond  by  which  the  aborigines  were 
united  with  the  colonists.  Thus,  little  leisure  was 

1  The  author's  memory  was  at  fault.     The  father  of  Miss  Schuyler 
survived  his  brother,  Col.  Peter  S.,  twenty -three  years. 

2  Col.  Peter  Schuyler,  Member  of  the  King's  Council.      His  niece 
sometimes    accompanied   him   to  the   capitol     (New    York)   to    visit 
among  her  friends  and   relatives,  who   were  quite  numerous   in   that 
city.      The  voyage  from  Albany  frequently  occupied  several  days. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       129 

left  him  for  domestic  enjoyments,  or  literary  pur- 
suits, for  both  of  which  his  mind  was  peculiarly 
adapted.  Of  the  leisure  time  he  could  command, 
however,  he  made  the  best  use ;  and  soon  dis- 
tinguishing Catalina 1  as  the  one  amongst  his  family 
to  whom  nature  had  been  most  liberal,  he  was 
at  the  pains  to  cultivate  her  taste  for  reading,  which 
soon  discovered  itself  by  procuring  for  her  the  best 
authors  in  history,  divinity,  and  belles-lettres ;  in 
this  latter  branch  her  reading  was  not  very  exten- 
sive ;  but  then  the  few  books  of  this  kind  that  she 
possessed  were  very  well  chosen;  and  she  was 
early  and  intimately  familiar  with  them.  What  I 
remember  of  her,  assisted  by  comparisons  since 
made  with  others,  has  led  me  to  think  that  exten- 
sive reading,  superficial  and  indiscriminate,  such  as 
the  very  easy  access  to  books  among  us  encourages, 
is  not  at  an  early  period  of  life  favorable  to  solid 
thinking,  true  taste,  or  fixed  principle.  Whatever 
she  knew,  she  knew  to  the  bottom ;  and  the  reflec- 
tions, which  were  thus  suggested  to  her  strong  dis- 
cerning mind,  were  digested  by  means  of  easy  and 
instructive  conversation.  Colonel  Schuyler  had 
many  relations  in  New  York  ;  and  the  governor  and 
other  ruling  characters  there  carefully  cultivated  the 
acquaintance  of  a  person  so  well  qualified  to  instruct 
and  inform  them  on  certain  points  as  he  was. 
Having  considerable  dealings  in  the  fur  trade  too, 
he  went  every  winter  to  the  capital  for  a  short  time, 

1  Margaretta. 

VOL.  I.  —  9 


i3o  MEMOIRS    OF 

to  adjust  his  commercial  concerns,  and  often  took 
his  favorite  niece  along  with  him,  who,  being  of  an 
uncommon  quick  growth  and  tall  stature,  soon 
attracted  attention  by  her  personal  graces,  as  well 
as  by  the  charms  of  her  conversation.  I  have  been 
told,  and  should  conclude  from  a  picture  I  have 
seen  drawn  when  she  was  fifteen,  that  she  was  in 
her  youth  very  handsome.  Of  this  few  traces 
remained  when  I  knew  her:  excessive  corpulence 
having  then  overloaded  her  majestic  person,  and 
entirely  changed  the  aspect  of  a  countenance  once 
eminently  graceful.  In  no  place  did  female  excel- 
lence of  any  kind  more  amply  receive  its  due  tribute 
of  applause  and  admiration  than  here,  for  various 
reasons :  First,  cultivation  and  refinement  were 
rare.  Then,  as  it  was  not  the  common  routine 
that  women  should  necessarily  have  such  and  such 
accomplishments,  pains  were  only  taken  on  minds 
strong  enough  to  bear  improvements  without 
becoming  conceited  or  pedantic.  And  lastly,  as 
the  spur  of  emulation  was  not  invidiously  applied, 
those  who  acquired  a  superior  degree  of  knowledge 
considered  themselves  as  very  fortunate  in  having 
a  new  source  of  enjoyment  opened  to  them. 
But  never  having  been  made  to  understand  that 
the  chief  motive  of  excelling  was  to  dazzle  or 
outshine  others,  they  no  more  thought  of  despising 
their  less  fortunate  companions,  than  of  assuming 
preeminence  for  discovering  a  wild  plum-tree  or 
bee-hive  in  the  woods,  though,  as  in  the  former 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       131 

case,  they  would  have  regarded  such  a  discovery 
as  a  benefit  and  a  pleasure ;  their  acquisitions, 
therefore,  were  never  shaded  by  affectation.  The 
women  were  all  natives  of  the  country,  and  few 
had  more  than  domestic  education.  But  men,  who 
possessed  the  advantages  of  early  culture  and  usage 
of  the  world,  daily  arrived  on  the  continent  from 
different  parts  of  Europe.  So  that  if  we  may 
be  indulged  in  the  inelegant  liberty  of  talking 
commercially  of  female  elegance,  the  supply  was 
not  equal  to  the  demand.  It  may  be  easily  sup- 
posed that  Miss  Schuyler  met  with  due  attention ; 
who,  even  at  this  early  age,  was  respected  for 
the  strength  of  her  character,  and  the  dignity  and 
composure  of  her  manners.  Her  mother,1  whom 
she  delighted  to  recollect,  was  mild,  pious  and 
amiable ;  her  acknowledged  worth  was  chastened 
by  the  utmost  diffidence.  Yet  accustomed  to 
exercise  a  certain  power  over  the  minds  of  the 
natives,  she  had  great  influence  in  restraining  their 
irregularities,  and  swaying  their  opinions.  From 
her  knowledge  of  their  language,  and  habit  of  con- 
versing with  them,  some  detached  Indian  families 
resided  for  a  while  in  summer  in  the  vicinity  of 
houses  occupied  by  the  more  wealthy  and  benevo- 
lent inhabitants.  They  generally  built  a  slight 
wigwam  under  shelter  of  the  orchard  fence  on  the 

1  Her  mother  was  the  only  daughter  of  Dr.  Abraham  Staats,  an 
early  immigrant,  and  sister  of  Dr.  Samuel  Staats,  member  of  the 
King's  Council. 


i32  MEMOIRS    OF 

shadiest  side ;  and  never  were  neighbors  more 
harmless,  peaceable  and  obliging;  I  might  truly 
add,  industrious :  for  in  one  way  or  other  they 
were  constantly  occupied.  The  women  and  their 
children  employed  themselves  in  many  ingenious 
handicrafts,  which,  since  the  introduction  of  Euro- 
pean arts  and  manufactures,  have  greatly  declined. 
Baking  trays,  wooden  dishes,  ladles  and  spoons, 
shovels  and  rakes,  brooms  of  a  peculiar  manu- 
facture, made  by  splitting  a  birch  block  into  slender 
but  tough  filaments :  baskets  of  all  kinds  and  sizes, 
made  of  similar  filaments,  enriched  with  the  most 
beautiful  colors,  which  they  alone  knew  how  to 
extract  from  vegetable  substances,  and  incorporate 
with  the  wood.  They  made  also  of  the  birch  bark 
(which  is  here  so  strong  and  tenacious,  that  cradles 
and  canoes  are  made  of  it),  many  receptacles  for 
holding  fruit  and  other  things  curiously  adorned 
with  embroidery,  not  inelegant,  done  with  the 
sinews  of  deer,  and  leggans1  and  moquesans,2  a 
very  comfortable  and  highly  ornamented  substitute 
for  shoes  and  stockings,  then  universally  used  in 
winter  among  the  men  of  our  own  people.  They 
had  also  a  beautiful  manufacture  of  deer-skin,  soft- 

1  Leggins,  a  long  gaiter  for  protecting  the  ankle  and  leg,  spoken 
of  in  Capt.  Thomas  Anbury' s  book  of  travels  as  country  boots. 

2  Moccasins,  a  shoe  or  cover  for  the  foot,  made  of  deer  skin  or 
other  soft  leather,  without  a  sole,  and  ornamented  on  the  upper  side  ; 
the  customary  shoe  worn  by  the  American  Indians.      Some  of  these 
discrepancies  of  orthography  may  not  be  chargeable  to  the  author,  but 
possibly  are  what  are  known  as  typographical  errors. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        133 

ened  to  the  consistence  of  the  finest  chamois 
leather,  and  embroidered  with  beads  of  wampum, 
formed  like  bugles ;  these,  with  great  art  and 
industry,  they  formed  out  of  shells,  which  had 
the  appearance  of  fine  white  porcelain,  veined  with 
purple.  This  embroidery  showed  both  skill  and 
taste,  and  was  among  themselves  highly  valued. 
They  had  belts,  large  embroidered  garters,  and 
many  other  ornaments,  formed,  first  of  sinews, 
divided  to  the  size  of  coarse  thread,  and  afterwards, 
when  they  obtained  worsted  thread  from  us,  of 
that  material,  formed  in  a  manner  which  I  could 
never  comprehend.  It  was  neither  knitted  nor 
wrought  in  the  manner  of  net,  nor  yet  woven ; 
but  the  texture  was  formed  more  like  an  officer's 
sash  than  anything  I  can  compare  it  to.  While 
the  women  and  children  were  thus  employed,  the 
men  sometimes  assisted  them  in  the  more  laborious 
part  of  their  business,  but  oftener  occupied  them- 
selves in  fishing  on  the  rivers,  and  drying  or 
preserving,  by  means  of  smoke,  in  sheds  erected 
for  the  purpose,  sturgeon  and  large  eels,  which 
they  caught  in  great  quantities,  and  of  an  extraor- 
dinary size,  for  winter  provision. 

Boys  on  the  verge  of  manhood,  and  ambitious 
to  be  admitted  into  the  hunting  parties  of  the 
ensuing  winter,  exercised  themselves  in  trying  to 
improve  their  skill  in  archery,  by  shooting  birds, 
squirrels,  and  racoons.  These  petty  huntings 
helped  to  support  the  little  colony  in  the  neigh- 


134 


MEMOIRS 


borhood,  which  however  derived  its  principal  sub- 
sistence from  an  exchange  of  their  manufactures 
with  the  neighboring  family  for  milk,  bread,  and 
other  articles  of  food. 

The  summer  residence  of  these  ingenious  artisans 
promoted  a  great  intimacy  between  the  females  of 
the  vicinity  and  the  Indian  women,  whose  sagacity 
and  comprehension  of  mind  were  beyond  belief. 

It  is  a  singular  circumstance,  that  though  they 
saw  the  negroes  in  every  respectable  family  not 
only  treated  with  humanity,  but  cherished  with 
parental  kindness,  they  always  regarded  them  with 
contempt  and  dislike,  as  an  inferior  race,  and  would 
have  no  communication  with  them.  It  was  neces- 
sary then  that  all  conversations  should  be  held,  and 
all  business  transacted  with  these  females,  by  the 
mistress  of  the  family.  In  the  infancy  of  the  settle- 
ment the  Indian  language  was  familiar  to  the  more 
intelligent  inhabitants,  who  found  it  very  useful,  and 
were,  no  doubt,  pleased  with  its  nervous  and  em- 
phatic idiom,  and  its  lofty  and  sonorous  cadence. 
It  was  indeed  a  noble  and  copious  language,  when 
one  considers  that  it  served  as  the  vehicle  of  thought 
to  a  people  whose  ideas  and  sphere  of  action  we 
should  consider  as  so  very  confined. 


Chapter  XIII 

PROGRESS   OF  KNOWLEDGE  —  INDIAN  MANNERS 

CONVERSING  with  those  interesting  and 
deeply  reflecting  natives,  was  to  thinking 
minds  no  mean  source  of  entertainment.  Com- 
munication soon  grew  easier;  for  the  Indians  had 
a  singular  facility  in  acquiring  other  languages ;  the 
children  I  well  remember,  from  experimental  knowl- 
edge, for  I  delighted  to  hover  about  the  wigwam, 
and  converse  with  those  of  the  Indians,  and  we 
very  frequently  mingled  languages.  But  to  return : 
whatever  comfort  or  advantage  a  good  and  benev- 
olent mind  possesses,  it  is  willing  to  extend  to 
others.  The  mother  of  my  friend,  and  other 
matrons,  who  like  her  experienced  the  consolations, 
the  hopes,  and  the  joys  of  Christianity,  wished 
those  inestimable  natives  to  share  in  their  pure  en- 
joyments. 

Of  all  others  these  mild  and  practical  Christians 
were  the  best  fitted  for  making  proselytes.  Unlike 
professed  missionaries,  whose  zeal  is  not  always 
seconded  by  judgment,  they  did  not  begin  by 
alarming  the  jealousy  with  which  all  manner  of 
people  watch  over  their  hereditary  prejudices. 
Engaged  in  active  life,  they  had  daily  opportunities 


i36  MEMOIRS    OF 

of  demonstrating  the  truth  of  their  religion  by  its 
influence  upon  their  conduct.  Equally  unable  and 
unwilling  to  enter  into  deep  disquisitions  or  polem- 
ical arguments,  their  calm  and  unstudied  explana- 
tions of  the  essential  doctrines  of  Christianity,  were 
the  natural  results  which  arose  out  of  their  ordinary 
conversation.  To  make  this  better  understood,  I 
must  endeavor  to  explain  what  I  have  observed  in 
the  unpolished  society,  that  occupies  the  wild  and  re- 
mote regions  of  different  countries.  Their  conver- 
sation is  not  only  more  original,  but,  however  odd 
the  expression  may  appear,  more  philosophical  than 
that  of  persons  equally  destitute  of  mental  culture 
in  more  populous  districts.  They  derive  their  sub- 
jects of  reflection  and  conversation  more  from  nat- 
ural objects,  which  lead  minds,  possessing  a  certain 
degree  of  intelligence,  more  forward  to  trace  effects 
to  their  causes.  Nature  there,  too,  is  seen  arrayed 
in  virgin  beauty  and  simple  majesty.  Its  various 
aspects  are  more  grand  and  impressive.  Its  voice 
is  more  distinctly  heard,  and  sinks  deeper  into  the 
heart.  These  people,  more  dependent  on  the 
simples  of  the  fields  and  the  wild  fruits  of  the  woods  ; 
better  acquainted  with  the  forms  and  instincts  of 
the  birds  and  beasts,  their  fellow  denizens  in  the 
wild;  and  more  observant  of  every  constellation 
and  every  change  in  the  sky,  from  living  so  much 
in  the  open  air,  have  a  wider  range  of  ideas  than  we 
are  aware  of.  With  us,  art  every  where  combats 
nature,  opposes  her  plainest  dictates,  and  too  often 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        137 

conquers  her.  The  poor  are  so  confined  to  the 
spot  where  their  occupations  lie,  so  engrossed  by 
their  struggles  for  daily  bread,  and  so  surrounded 
by  the  works  of  man,  that  those  of  their  Creator  are 
almost  excluded  from  their  view,  at  least  form  a 
very  small  part  of  the  subjects  that  engross  their 
thoughts.  What  knowledge  they  have  is  often 
merely  the  husks  and  orts  that  fall  from  the  table 
of  their  superiors,  which  they  swallow  without 
chewing. 

Many  of  those  who  are  one  degree  above  the 
lowest  class,  see  nature  in  poetry,  novels,  and  other 
books,  and  never  think  of  looking  for  her  any 
where  else ;  like  a  person  amused  by  seeing  the  re- 
flection of  the  starry  heavens  or  shifting  clouds  in  a 
calm  lake,  never  lifting  his  eyes  to  those  objects  of 
which  he  sees  the  imperfect  though  resembling 
pictures. 

Those  who  live  in  the  undisguised  bosom  of  tran- 
quil nature,  and  whose  chief  employment  it  is,  by 
disencumbering  her  of  waste  luxuriance,  to  discover 
and  improve  her  latent  beauties,  need  no  borrowed 
enthusiasm  to  relish  the  sublime  and  graceful  feat- 
ures. The  venerable  simplicity  of  the  sacred  scrip- 
tures, has  something  extremely  attractive  for  a  mind 
in  this  state.  The  soul,  which  is  the  most  familiar 
with  its  Creator,  in  his  works,  will  be  always  the 
most  ready  to  recognize  him  in  his  word.  Conver- 
sations which  had  for  their  subject  the  nature  and 
virtues  of  plants,  the  extent  and  boundaries  of  woods 


ij8  MEMOIRS    OF 

and  lakes,  and  the  various  operations  of  instinct  in 
animals,  under  those  circumstances  where  they  are 
solely  directed  by  it,  and  the  distinct  customs  and 
manners  of  various  untutored  nations,  tended  to  ex- 
pand the  mind,  and  teach  it  to  aspire  to  more  per- 
fect intelligence.  The  untaught  reasoners  of  the 
woods  could  not  but  observe  that  the  Europeans 
knew  much  that  was  concealed  from  them,  and  de- 
rived many  benefits  and  much  power  from  that 
knowledge.  Where  they  saw  active  virtue  keep 
pace  with  superior  knowledge,  it  was  natural  to  con- 
clude that  persons  thus  beneficially  enlightened,  had 
clearer  and  ampler  views  of  that  futurity,  wnich  to 
them  only  dimly  gleamed  through  formless  darkness. 
They  would  suppose,  too,  that  those  illuminated 
beings  had  some  means  of  approaching  nearer  to 
that  source  of  light  and  perfection  from  which  wis- 
dom is  derived,  than  they  themselves  had  attained. 
Their  minds  being  thus  prepared  by  degrees,  these 
pious  matrons  (probably  assisted  by  those  lay- 
brothers  of  whom  I  have  spoken)  began  to  diffuse 
the  knowledge  of  the  distinguishing  doctrines  of 
Christianity  among  the  elderly  and  well-intentioned 
Indian  women.  These  did  not  by  any  means  re- 
ceive the  truth  without  examination :  the  acuteness 
of  intellect  which  discovered  itself  in  their  objections 
(of  which  I  have  heard  many  striking  instances)  was 
astonishing ;  yet  the  humble  and  successful  instru- 
ments of  enlightening  those  sincere  and  candid 
people,  did  by  no  means  take  to  themselves  any 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        139 

merit  in  making  proselytes.  When  they  found 
their  auditors  disposed  to  listen  diligently  to  the 
truth,  they  sent  them  to  the  clergymen  of  the  place, 
who  instructed,  confirmed,  and  baptized  them.  I 
am  sorry  that  I  have  not  a  clear  and  distinct  recol- 
lection of  the  exact  manner,  or  the  numbers,  etc.,  of 
these  first  converts,  of  whom  I  shall  say  more  here- 
after ;  but  I  know  that  this  was  the  usual  process. 
They  were,  however,  both  zealous  and  persevering, 
and  proved  the  means  of  bringing  many  others 
under  the  law  of  love,  to  which  it  is  reasonable  to 
suppose  the  safety  of  this  unprotected  frontier  was 
greatly  owing  at  that  crisis,  that  of  the  first  attacks 
of  the  French.  The  Indian  women,  who,  from  mo- 
tives of  attachment  to  particular  families,  or  for  the 
purpose  of  carry  ing  on  the  small  traffic  already  men- 
tioned, were  wont  to  pass  their  summers  near  the 
settlers,  were  of  detached  and  wandering  families, 
who  preferred  this  mode  of  living  to  the  labor  of  till- 
ing the  ground,  which  entirely  devolved  upon  the 
women  among  the  five  nations.  By  tilling  the 
ground  I  would  not  be  understood  to  mean  any 
settled  mode  of  agriculture,  requiring  cattle,  enclo- 
sures, or  implements  of  husbandry.  Grain  made 
but  a  very  subordinate  part  of  their  subsistence, 
which  was  chiefly  derived  from  fishing  and  hunting. 
The  little  they  had  was  maize ;  this  with  kidney 
beans  and  tobacco,  the  only  plants  they  cultivated, 
was  sowed  in  some  very  pleasant  fields  along  the 
Mohawk  river,  by  the  women,  who  had  no  imple- 


i4o  MEMOIRS    OF 

ments  of  tillage  but  the  hoe,  and  a  kind  of  wooden 
spade.  These  fields  lay  round  their  castles,  and 
while  the  women  were  thus  employed,  the  men  were 
catching  and  drying  fish  by  the  rivers  or  on  the 
lakes.  The  younger  girls  were  much  busied  during 
summer  and  autumn,  in  gathering  wild  fruits, 
berries,  and  grapes,  which  they  had  a  peculiar  mode 
of  drying  to  preserve  them  for  the  winter.  The 
great  cranberry  they  gathered  in  abundance,  which, 
without  being  dried,  would  last  the  whole  winter, 
and  was  much  used  by  the  settlers.  These  dried 
fruits  were  no  luxury;  a  fastidious  taste  would 
entirely  reject  them.  Yet,  besides  furnishing  an- 
other article  of  food,  they  had  their  use,  as  was 
evident.  Without  some  antiseptic,  they  who  lived 
the  whole  winter  on  animal  food,  without  a  single 
vegetable,  or  anything  of  the  nature  of  bread,  unless 
now  and  then  a  little  maize,  which  they  had  the  art 
of  boiling  down  to  softness  in  ley  of  wood-ashes, 
must  have  been  liable  to  that  great  scourge  of 
northern  nations  in  their  primitive  state,  the  scurvy, 
had  not  this  simple  dessert  been  a  preservative 
against  it.  Rheumatisms,  and  sometimes  agues 
affected  them,  but  no  symptom  of  any  cutaneous 
disease  was  ever  seen  on  an  Indian. 

The  stragglers  from  the  confines  of  the  orchards 
did  not  fail  to  join  their  tribes  in  winter ;  and  were 
zealous,  and  often  successful  in  spreading  their  new 
opinions.  Indians  supposed  that  every  country  had 
its  own  mode  of  honoring  the  great  spirits,  to  whom 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        141 

all  were  equally  acceptable.  This  had,  on  one  hand, 
the  bad  effect  of  making  them  satisfied  with  their 
own  vague  and  undefined  notions  ;  and  on  the 
other,  the  good  one  of  making  them  very  tolerant 
of  those  of  others.  If  you  do  not  insult  their  belief 
(for  mode  of  worship  they  have  scarce  any),  they 
will  hear  you  talk  of  yours  with  the  greatest  patience 
and  attention.  Their  good  breeding  in  this  respect, 
was  really  superlative.  No  Indian  ever  interrupted 
any,  the  most  idle  talker :  but  when  they  concluded, 
he  would  deliberately,  methodically,  and  not  ungrace- 
fully answer  or  comment  upon  all  they  had  said,  in 
a  manner  which  showed  that  not  a  word  had  escaped 
him. 

Lady  Mary  Montague  ludicrously  says,  that  the 
court  of  Vienna  was  the  paradise  of  old  women ; 
and  that  there  is  no  other  place  in  the  world  where 
a  woman  past  fifty  excites  the  least  interest.  Had 
her  travels  extended  to  the  interior  of  North 
America,  she  would  have  seen  another  instance  of 
this  inversion  of  the  common  mode  of  thinking. 
Here  a  woman  never  was  of  consequence,  till  she 
had  a  son  old  enough  to  fight  the  battles  of  his 
country :  from  that  date  she  held  a  superior  rank  in 
society ;  was  allowed  to  live  at  ease,  and  even  called 
to  consultations  on  national  affairs.  In  savage  and 
warlike  countries,  the  reign  of  beauty  is  very  short, 
and  its  influence  comparatively  limited.  The  girls 
in  childhood  had  a  very  pleasing  appearance ;  but 
excepting  their  fine  hair,  eyes  and  teeth,  every 


i42  MEMOIRS    OF 

external  grace  was  soon  banished  by  perpetual  drud- 
gery, carrying  burdens  too  heavy  to  be  borne,  and 
other  slavish  employments  considered  beneath  the 
dignity  of  the  men.  These  walked  before,  erect 
and  graceful,  decked  with  ornaments,  which  set  off 
to  advantage  the  symmetry  of  their  well  formed  per- 
sons, while  the  poor  women  followed,  meanly  attired, 
bent  under  the  weight  of  the  children  and  utensils 
they  carried  everywhere  with  them ;  and  disfigured 
and  degraded  by  ceaseless  toils.  They  were  very 
early  married ;  for  a  Mohawk  had  no  other  servant 
but  his  wife;  and  whenever  he  commenced  hunter, 
it  was  requisite  that  he  should  have  some  one  to 
carry  his  load,  cook  his  kettle,  make  his  moquesans, 
and  above  all,  produce  the  young  warriors  who  were 
to  succeed  him  in  the  honors  of  the  chase,  and  of 
the  tomahawk.  Wherever  man  is  a  mere  hunter, 
woman  is  a  mere  slave.  It  is  domestic  intercourse 
that  softens  man,  and  elevates  woman ;  and  of  that 
there  can  be  little,  where  the  employments  and 
amusements  are  not  in  common :  the  ancient  Cale- 
donians honored  the  fair;  but  then,  it  is  to  be 
observed,  they  were  fair  huntresses,  and  moved,  in 
the  light  of  their  beauty,  to  the  hill  of  roes ;  and 
the  culinary  toils  were  entirely  left  to  the  rougher 
sex.  When  the  young  warrior  above  alluded  to 
made  his  appearance,  it  softened  the  cares  of  his 
mother;  who  well  knew  that  when  he  grew  up, 
every  deficiency  in  tenderness  to  his  wife  would  be 
made  up  in  superabundant  duty  and  affection  to 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        143 

her.  If  it  were  possible  to  carry  filial  veneration  to 
excess,  it  was  done  here  ;  for  all  other  charities  were 
absorbed  in  it.  I  wonder  this  system  of  depressing 
the  sex  in  their  early  years  to  exalt  them  when  all 
their  juvenile  attractions  were  flown,  and  when  mind 
alone  can  distinguish  them,  has  not  occurred  to  our 
modern  reformers.  The  Mohawks  took  good  care 
not  to  admit  their  women  to  share  their  preroga- 
tives, till  they  approved  themselves  good  wives  and 
mothers. 

This  digression,  long  as  it  is,  has  a  very  inti- 
mate connection  with  the  character  of  my  friend; 
who  early  adopted  the  views  of  her  family,  in 
regard  to  those  friendly  Indians,  which  greatly 
enlarged  her  mind,  and  ever  after  influenced  her 
conduct.  She  was,  even  in  childhood,  well  ac- 
quainted with  their  language,  opinions,  and  cus- 
toms ;  and,  like  every  other  person,  possessed  of 
a  liberality  or  benevolence  of  mind,  whom  chance 
had  brought  acquainted  with  them,  was  exceedingly 
partial  to  those  high-souled  and  generous  natives. 
The  Mohawk  language  was  early  familiar  to  her ; 
she  spoke  Dutch  and  English  with  equal  ease  and 
purity ;  was  no  stranger  to  the  French  tongue ; 
and  could  (I  think)  read  German.  I  have  heard 
her  speak  it.  From  the  conversations  which  her 
active  curiosity  led  her  to  hold  with  native  Africans 
brought  into  her  father's  family,  she  was  more 
intimately  acquainted  with  the  customs,  manners, 
and  government  of  their  native  country,  than  she 


i44  MEMOIRS    OF 

could  have  been,  by  reading  all  that  was  ever 
written  on  the  subject.  Books  are,  no  doubt,  the 
granaries  of  knowledge  :  but  a  diligent,  inquiring 
mind,  in  the  active  morning  of  life,  will  find  it 
strewed  like  manna  over  the  face  of  the  earth ; 
and  need  not,  in  all  cases,  rest  satisfied  with  intelli- 
gence accumulated  by  others,  and  tinctured  with 
their  passions  and  prejudices.  Whoever  reads 
Homer  or  Shakespeare  may  daily  discover  that 
they  describe  both  nature  and  art  from  their  own 
observation.  Consequently  you  see  the  images, 
reflected  from  the  mirror  of  their  great  minds, 
differing  from  the  descriptions  of  others,  as  the 
reflection  of  an  object  in  all  its  colors  and  pro- 
portions from  any  polished  surface,  does  from  a 
shadow  on  a  wall,  or  from  a  picture  drawn  from 
recollection.  The  enlarged  mind  of  my  friend, 
and  her  simple  yet  easy  and  dignified  manners, 
made  her  readily  adapt  herself  to  those  with  whom 
she  conversed,  and  every  where  command  respect 
and  kindness :  and,  on  a  nearer  acquaintance,  affec- 
tion followed;  but  she  had  too  much  sedateness 
and  independence  to  adopt  those  caressing  and 
insinuating  manners,  by  which  the  vain  and  the 
artful  so  soon  find  their  way  into  shallow  minds. 
Her  character  did  not  captivate  at  once,  but  gradu- 
ally unfolded  itself;  and  you  had  always  something 
new  to  discover.  Her  style  was  grave  and  mascu- 
line, without  the  least  embellishment ;  and  at  the 
same  time  so  pure,  that  everything  she  said  might 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        145 

be  printed  without  correction,  and  so  plain,  that 
the  most  ignorant  and  most  inferior  persons  were 
never  at  a  loss  to  comprehend  it.  It  possessed, 
too,  a  wonderful  flexibility ;  it  seemed  to  rise  and 
fall  with  the  subject.  I  have  not  met  with  a  style 
which,  to  a  noble  and  uniform  simplicity,  united 
such  variety  of  expression.  Whoever  drinks  knowl- 
edge pure  at  its  sources,  solely  from  a  delight  in 
filling  the  capacities  of  a  large  mind,  without  the 
desire  of  dazzling  or  outshining  others ;  whoever 
speaks  for  the  sole  purpose  of  conveying  to  other 
minds  those  ideas,  from  which  he  himself  has 
received  pleasure  and  advantage,  may  possess  this 
chaste  and  natural  style :  but  it  is  not  to  be  ac- 
quired by  art  or  study. 


VOL.  I.  —  IO 


Chapter  XIV 


MARRIAGE     OF    MISS     SCHUYLER  —  DESCRIPTION 
OF   THE   FLATS 

MISS  S.  had  the  happiness  to  captivate  her 
cousin  Philip,1  eldest  son  of  her  uncle, 
who  was  ten  years  older  than  herself,  and  was 
in  all  respects  to  be  accounted  a  suitable,  and  in 
the  worldly  sense,  an  advantageous  match  for  her. 
His  father  was  highly  satisfied  to  have  the  two 

1  This  Col.  Philip  was  the  eldest  son  of  Col.  Peter  Schuyler  and 
his  wife,  Maria  Van  Rensselaer,  baptized  January  15,  1696,  and  but 
five  years  older  than  his  cousin  whom  he  married.  His  mother  was 
the  daughter  of  Jeremiah  Van  Rensselaer,  and  a  granddaughter  of  the 
first  patroon  of  Rensselaerwyck.  He  died  February  16,  1758,  and 
his  monument  is  the  oldest  and  most  conspicuous  one  in  the  family 
burial  ground  at  the  Flats,  resting  horizontally  upon  pillars,  and  bear- 
ing the  following  inscription. 

In  Memory  of 

COLNL.  PHILIP  SCHUYLER, 

A  Gentleman  who  was  Improved 

in  Several  publick  employments 

in  which  he  Acted  with  integrity, 

he  was  singularly  hospitable, 

a  Sincere  friend,  kind  Master, 

a  most  tender  Husband  ; 

he  Liv'd  Respected  and  died  greatly  Lamented. 
Feb.  1 6th,  1758,  Aged  62  years. 

Madame  Schuyler  was  buried  by  his  side,  but  the  metal  tablet  on 
the  monument  marking  her  grave  is  gone.  It  is  to  be  replaced  by  a 
new  tablet. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         147 

objects  on  whom  he  had  bestowed  so  much  care 
and  culture  united,  but  did  not  live  to  see  this 
happy  connection  take  place.  They  were  married 
in  the  year  1719,  when  she  was  in  the  eighteenth 
year  of  her  age.1  When  the  old  colonel  died,  he 
left  considerable  possessions  to  be  divided  among 
his  children,  and  from  the  quantity  of  plate,  paint- 
ings, etc.,  which  they  shared,  there  is  reason  to 
believe  he  must  have  brought  some  of  his  wealth 
from  Holland,  as  in  those  days  people  had  little 
means  of  enriching  themselves  in  new  settlements. 
He  had  also  considerable  possessions  in  a  place 
near  the  town,  now  called  Fishkill,2  about  twenty 
miles  below  Albany.8  His  family  residence,  how- 
ever, was  at  the  Flats,  a  fertile  and  beautiful  plain 
on  the  banks  of  the  river.  He  possessed  about 
two  miles  on  a  stretch  of  that  rich  and  level  cham- 
pain.  This  possession  was  bounded  on  the  east 
by  the  river  Hudson,  whose  high  banks  overhung 
the  stream  and  its  pebbly  strand,  and  were  both 
adorned  and  defended  by  elms  (larger  than  ever  I 
have  seen  in  any  other  place),  decked  with  natural 
festoons  of  wild  grapes,  which  abound  along  the 
banks  of  this  noble  stream.  These  lofty  elms 

1  They  were  married  December  29,  1720,  and  Col.  Peter  Schuyler 
died  February  19,  1724. 

3  Miss  Schuyler's  father  had  a  large  and  valuable  tract  of  land  on 
the  Fishkill  at  Saratoga,  fifty  miles  above  Albany,  and  the  father  of 
Philip  Schuyler  had  a  large  landed  property  at  Kinderhook  and  in  its 
neighborhood,  below  Albany. 

•  Query,  Catskill  ?     Fishkill  is  100  miles  from  Albany. 


148  MEMOIRS    OF 

were  left  when  the  country  was  cleared  to  fortify 
the  banks  against  the  masses  of  thick  ice  which 
make  war  upon  them  in  spring,  when  the  melting 
snows  burst  this  glassy  pavement,  and  raise  the 
waters  many  feet  above  their  usual  level.  This 
precaution  not  only  answers  that  purpose,  but 
gratifies  the  mind  by  presenting  to  the  eye  a  rem- 
nant of  wild  magnificence  of  nature  amidst  the 
smiling  scenes  produced  by  varied  and  successful 
cultivation.  As  you  came  along  by  the  north 
end  of  the  town,  where  the  patroon  had  his  seat, 
you  afterwards  passed  by  the  enclosures  of  the 
citizens,  where,  as  formerly  described,  they  planted 
their  corn,  and  arrived  at  the  Flats,  Col.  Schuyler's 
possession.1  On  the  right  you  saw  the  river  in 
all  its  beauty,  there  above  a  mile  broad.  On  the 
opposite  side  the  view  was  bounded  by  steep  hills, 
covered  with  lofty  pines,  from  which  a  waterfall 
descended,2  which  not  only  gave  animation  to  the 

1  In  the  last  century,  the  road  passed  down  in  front  of  the  patroon's 
mansion,  to  the  river,  and  followed  its  bank  northward  to  Stillwater, 
where  the  troops  took  bateaux.  This  ancient  road  was  known  as  the 
king's  highway.  In  front  of  Madame  Schuyler's  house  those  armies 
annually  passed  to  the  theatre  of  war  on  Lake  Champlain,  and  some- 
times encamped  on  the  ground  now  occupied  by  the  southern  portion 
of  West  Troy. 

"  No.  a.  Old  Schuyler  House  "  was  the  residence  of  the  American 
Lady.  Above  and  to  the  left  lived  Peter  (Pedrom)  Schuyler.  (P.  P. 
Schuyler  was  a  son  of  the  latter.)  To  the  left  of  P.  P.  Schuyler 
resided  Jeremiah  Schuyler.  His  house  was  subsequently  occupied  by 
his  grandson,  Abraham  N.  Cuyler.  Southeast  of  No.  a  is  the  island 
Mrs.  Grant  describes  so  graphically. 

8  This  waterfall,  known  as  the  Wynant's  kill,  became,  half  a  cen- 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY 


149 


sylvan  scene,  but  was  the  best  barometer  imagina- 
ble, foretelling  by  its  varied  and  intelligible  sounds 
every  approaching  change,  not  only  of  the  weather, 
but  of  the  wind.  Opposite  to  the  grounds  lay 
an  island,  above  a 
mile  in  length,  and 
about  a  quarter  in 
breadth,  which  also 
belonged  to  the 
colonel :  exquisitely 
beautiful  it  was,  and 
though  the  haunt  I 
most  delighted  in,  it 
is  not  in  my  power 
to  describe  it.  Im- 
agine a  little  Egypt, 
yearly  overflowed, 
and  of  the  most  re- 
dundant  fertility. 
This  charming  spot 
was  at  first  covered 

tury  ago,  the  site  of  the  Al- 
bany nail  works,  whose  fires 
light  the  skies  by  night,  and 
send  up  pillars  of  smoke  by 
day.  The  island  has  ac- 
quired a  considerable  alti- 
tude since  the  time  of  Mrs. 
Grant's  residence  there,  and 
is  otherwise  changed,  being 
in  fact  two  islands,  a  narrow 
creek  running  between  them. 


i5o  MEMOIRS    OF 

with  wood,  like  the  rest  of  the  country,  except 
a  long  field  in  the  middle  where  the  Indians  had 
probably  cultivated  maize ;  round  this  was  a  broad 
shelving  border,  where  the  grey  and  the  weeping 
willows,  the  bending  osier,  and  numberless  aquatic 
plants  not  known  in  this  country,  were  allowed 
to  flourish  in  the  utmost  luxuriance,  while  within, 
some  tall  sycamores  and  wild  fruit  trees  towered 
above  the  rest.  Thus  was  formed  a  broad  belt, 
which  in  winter  proved  an  impenetrable  barrier 
against  the  broken  ice,  and  in  summer  was  the 
haunt  of  numberless  birds  and  small  animals,  who 
dwelt  in  perfect  safety,  it  being  impossible  to  pene- 
trate it.  Numberless  were  the  productions  of  this 
luxuriant  spot ;  never  was  a  richer  field  for  a  bota- 
nist; for  though  the  ice  was  kept  off,  the  turbid 
waters  of  the  spring  flood  overflowed  it  annually, 
and  not  only  deposited  a  rich  sediment,  but  left 
the  seeds  of  various  plants  swept  from  the  shores 
it  had  passed  by.  The  centre  of  the  island,  which 
was  much  higher  than  the  sides,  produced,  with 
a  slight  degree  of  culture,  the  most  abundant  crops 
of  wheat,  hay,  and  flax.  At  the  end  of  this  island, 
which  was  exactly  opposite  to  the  family  mansion, 
a  long  sand-bank  extended :  on  this  was  a  very 
valuable  fishing-place,  of  which  a  considerable  profit 
might  be  made.  In  summer,  when  the  water  was 
low,  this  narrow  stripe  (for  such  it  was)  came  in 
sight,  and  furnished  an  amusing  spectacle;  for 
there  the  bald  or  white-headed  eagle  (a  large  pic- 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         151 

turesque  bird,  very  frequent  in  this  country),  the 
ospray,  the  heron,  and  the  curlew,  used  to  stand 
in  great  numbers  in  a  long  row,  like  a  military 
arrangement,  for  a  whole  summer  day,  fishing  for 
perch  and  a  kind  of  fresh-water  herring  which 
abounded  there.  At  the  same  season  a  variety 
of  wild  ducks,  who  bred  on  the  shores  of  the 
island  (among  which  was  a  small  white  diver  of 
an  elegant  form),  led  forth  their  young  to  try 
their  first  excursion.  What  a  scene  have  I  beheld 
on  a  calm  summer  evening !  There  indeed  were 
"  fringed  banks "  richly  fringed,  and  wonderfully 
variegated  ;  where  every  imaginable  shade  of  color 
mingled,  and  where  life  teemed  prolific  on  every 
side.  The  river,  a  perfect  mirror,  reflecting  the 
pine-covered  hills  opposite ;  and  the  pliant  shades 
that  bend  without  a  wind,  round  this  enchanting 
island,  while  hundreds  of  the  white  divers,  saw- 
bill  ducks  with  scarlet  heads,  teal,  and  other  aquatic 
birds,  sported  at  once  on  the  calm  waters.  At 
the  discharge  of  a  gun  from  the  shore,  these 
feathered  beauties  all  disappeared  at  once,  as  if 
by  magic,  and  in  an  instant  rose  to  view  in  different 
places. 

How  much  they  seemed  to  enjoy  that  life  which 
was  so  new  to  them ;  for  they  were  the  young 
broods  first  led  forth  to  sport  upon  the  waters. 
While  the  fixed  attitude  and  lofty  port  of  the  large 
birds  of  prey,  who  were  ranged  upon  the  sandy 
shelf,  formed  an  inverted  picture  in  the  same  clear 


i52  MEMOIRS    OF 

mirror,  and  were  a  pleasing  contrast  to  the  playful 
multitude  around.  These  they  never  attempted  to 
disturb,  well  aware  of  the  facility  of  escape  which 
their  old  retreats  afforded  them.  Such  of  my  read- 
ers as  have  had  patience  to  follow  me  to  this  favorite 
isle,  will  be,  ere  now,  as  much  bewildered  as  I  have 
often  been  myself  on  its  luxuriant  shores.  To 
return  to  the  southward,  on  the  confines  of  what 
might  then  be  called  an  interminable  wild,  rose  two 
gently  sloping  eminences,  about  half  a  mile  from 
the  shore.  From  each  of  these  a  large  brook  de- 
scended, bending  through  the  plain,  and  having 
their  course  marked  by  the  shades  of  primeval  trees 
and  shrubs  left  there  to  shelter  the  cattle  when  the 
ground  was  cleared.  On  these  eminences,  in  the 
near  neighborhood  and  full  view  of  the  mansion 
at  the  Flats,  were  two  large  and  well  built  dwellings, 
inhabited  by  Colonel  Schuyler's  two  younger  sons, 
Peter  and  Jeremiah.  To  the  eldest  was  allotted 
the  place  inhabited  by  his  father,  which,  from  its 
lower  situation  and  level  surface,  was  called  the 
Flats.  There  was  a  custom  prevalent  among  the 
new  settlers  something  like  that  of  gavelkind ; 
they  made  a  pretty  equal  division  of  lands  among 
their  younger  sons.  The  eldest,  by  preeminence 
of  birth,  had  a  larger  share,  and  generally  succeeded 
to  the  domain  inhabited  by  his  father,  with  the 
slaves,  cattle,  and  effects  upon  it. 

This,  in  the  present  instance,  was  the  lot  of  the 
eldest  son  of  that  family  whose  possessions  I  have 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         153 

been  describing.  His  portion  of  land  on  the  shore 
of  the  river  was  scarcely  equal  in  value  to  those  of 
his  brother,  to  whose  possessions  the  brooks  I  have 
mentioned  formed  a  natural  boundary,  dividing 
them  from  each  other,  and  from  his.  To  him  was 
allotted  the  costly  furniture  of  the  family,  of  which 
paintings,  plate,  and  china  constituted  the  valuable 
part ;  everything  else  being  merely  plain  and  useful. 
They  had  also,  a  large  house  in  Albany,  which  they 
occupied  occasionally. 

I  have  neglected  to  describe  in  its  right  place  the 
termination  or  back  ground  of  the  landscape  I  have 
such  delight  in  recollecting.  There  the  solemn 
and  interminable  forest  was  varied  here  and  there 
by  rising  grounds,  near  streams  where  birch  and 
hickory,  maple  and  poplar,  cheered  the  eye  with 
a  lighter  green,  through  the  prevailing  shade  of 
dusky  pines.  On  the  border  of  the  wood,  where 
the  trees  had  been  thinned  for  firing,  was  a  broad 
shrubbery  all  along,  which  marked  the  edges  of  the 
wood  above  the  possessions  of  the  brothers  as  far 
as  it  extended. 

This  was  formed  of  sumac,  a  shrub  with  leaves 
continually  changing  color  through  all  the  varieties 
from  blending  green  and  yellow  to  orange  tawney, 
and  adorned  with  large  lilac-shaped  clusters  of  bright 
scarlet  grains,  covered  with  pungent  dust  of  a  sharp 
flavor,  at  once  saline  and  acid.  This  the  Indians 
used  as  salt  to  their  food,  and  for  the  dyeing  of 
different  colors.  The  red  glow,  which  was  the 


i54 


MEMOIRS 


general  result  of  this  natural  border,  had  a  fine  effect, 
thrown  out  from  the  dusky  shades  which  towered 
behind. 

To  the  northward,  a  sandy  tract,  covered  with 
low  pines,  formed  a  boundary  betwixt  the  Flats  and 
Stonehook,1  which  lay  further  up  the  river. 

1  Steenhoek  was  in  front  of  the  plat  now  occupied  by  the  Arsenal, 
and  the  Steenhoek  kill  is  still  seen  issuing  from  the  government  grounds, 
draining  the  swamp  in  the  rear. 


Chapter  XV 


PHILIP   SCHUYLER  — HIS  MANAGEMENT   OF   THE 
INDIANS 

PHILIP  SCHUYLER,  who  on  the  death  of  his 
father,  succeeded  to  the  inheritance  I  have  been 
describing,  was  a  person  of  a  mild,  benevolent  char- 
acter, and  an  excellent  understanding,  which  had 
received  more  culture  than  was  usual  in  that  country. 
But  whether  he  had  returned  to  Europe,  for  the 
purpose  of  acquiring  knowledge  in  the  public  semi- 
naries there,  or  had  been  instructed  by  any  of  the 
French  protestants,  who  were  sometimes  retained 
in  the  principal  families  for  such  purposes,  I  do  not 
exactly  know;  but  am  led  rather  to  suppose  the 
latter,  from  the  connection  which  always  subsisted 
between  that  class  of  people  and  the  Schuyler 
family. 

When  the  intimacy  between  this  gentleman  and 
the  subject  of  these  memoirs  took  place  she  was  a 
mere  child ;  for  the  colonel,  as  he  was  soon  after 
called,  was  ten  years  older  than  she.  This  was 
singular  there,  where  most  men  married  under 
twenty.  But  his  early  years  were  occupied  by 
momentous  concerns  ;  for,  by  this  time,  the  public 
safety  began  to  be  endangered  by  the  insidious  wiles 


156  MEMOIRS    OF 

of  the  French  Canadians,  to  whom  our  frontier  set- 
tlers began  to  be  formidable  rivals  in  the  fur  trade, 
which  the  former  wished  to  engross.  In  process 
of  time,  the  Indians,  criminally  indulged  with  strong 
liquors  by  the  most  avaricious  and  unprincipled  of 
the  traders,  began  to  have  an  insatiable  desire  for 
them,  and  the  traders'  avidity  for  gain  increased  in 
the  same  proportion. 

Occasional  fraud  on  the  one  hand  gave  rise  to 
occasional  violence  on  the  other.  Mutual  confi- 
dence decayed,  and  hostility  betrayed  itself,  when 
intoxication  laid  open  every  thought.  Some  of  our 
traders  were,  as  the  colonists  alleged,  treacherously 
killed  in  violation  of  treaties  solemnly  concluded 
between  them  and  the  offending  tribes. 

The  mediation  and  protection  of  the  Mohawk 
tribes  were  as  usual  appealed  to.  But  these 
shrewd  politicians  saw  evident  the  value  of  their 
protection  to  an  unwarlike  people,  who  made  no 
effort  to  defend  themselves  ;  and  who,  distant  from 
the  source  of  authority,  and  contributing  nothing  to 
the  support  of  government,  were  in  a  great  measure 
neglected.  They  began  also  to  observe,  that  their 
new  friends  were  extending  their  possessions  on 
every  side,  and  conscious  of  their  wealth  and  in- 
creasing numbers,  did  not  assiduously  cultivate  the 
good  will  of  their  faithful  allies  as  formerly.  These 
nations,  savage  as  we  may  imagine  them,  were  as 
well  skilled  in  the  arts  of  negotiation  as  the  most 
polite  Europeans.  They  waged  perpetual  war  with 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        157 

each  other  about  their  hunting  grounds  ;  each  tribe 
laying  claim  to  some  vast  wild  territory  destined  for 
that  purpose,  and  divided  from  other  districts  by 
boundaries  which  we  should  consider  as  merely 
ideal,  but  which  they  perfectly  understood.  Yet 
these  were  not  so  distinctly  defined  as  to  preclude 
all  dispute ;  and  a  casual  encroachment  on  this 
imaginary  deer  park,  was  a  sufficient  ground  of 
hostility ;  and  this,  not  for  the  value  of  the  few 
deer  or  bears  which  might  be  killed,  but  that  they 
thought  their  national  honor  violated  by  such  an 
aggression.  That  system  of  revenge,  which  sub- 
sisted with  equal  force  among  them  all,  admitted 
of  no  sincere  conciliation  till  the  aggrieved  party 
had  obtained  at  least  an  equal  number  of  scalps  and 
prisoners  for  those  that  they  had  lost.  This  bloody 
reckoning  was  not  easily  adjusted.  After  a  short 
and  hollow  truce,  the  remaining  balance  on  either 
side  afforded  a  pretext  for  new  hostility,  and  time 
to  solicit  new  alliances ;  for  which  last  purpose 
much  art  and  much  persuasive  power  of  eloquence 
were  employed. 

But  the  grand  mystery  of  Indian  politics  was  the 
flattery,  the  stratagem,  and  address  employed  in 
detaching  other  tribes  from  the  alliance  of  their 
enemies.  There  could  not  be  a  stronger  proof  of 
the  restless  and  turbulent  nature  of  ambition  than 
these  artful  negotiations,  the  consequence  of  per- 
petual hostility,  where  one  would  think  there  was  so 
little  ground  for  quarrel ;  and  that  amongst  a  people 


158  MEMOIRS    OF 

who  individually,  were  by  no  means  quarrelsome  or 
covetous,  and  seemed  in  their  private  transactions 
with  each  other,  impressed  with  a  deep  sense  of 
moral  rectitude;  who  reasoned  soundly,  reflected 
deeply,  and  acted  in  most  cases  consequentially. 
Property  there  was  none,  to  afford  a  pretext  for  war, 
excepting  a  little  possessed  by  the  Mohawks,  which 
they  knew  so  well  how  to  defend,  that  their  boun- 
daries were  never  violated ;  "  For  their  awe  and  their 
fear  was  upon  all  the  nations  round  about."  Terri- 
tory could  not  be  the  genuine  subject  of  contention 
in  these  thinly  peopled  forests,  where  the  ocean  and 
the  pole  were  the  only  limits  of  their  otherwise 
boundless  domain.  The  consequence  attached  to 
the  authority  of  chiefs,  who,  as  such,  possessed  no 
more  property  than  others,  and  had  not  power  to 
command  a  single  vassal  for  their  own  personal 
benefit,  was  not  such  as  to  be  the  object  of  those 
wars.  Their  chief  privilege  was  that  of  being  first 
in  every  dangerous  enterprise.  They  were  loved 
and  honored,  but  never,  that  I  have  heard  of, 
traduced,  envied,  or  removed  from  their  painful 
preeminence. 

The  only  way  in  which  these  wars  can  be 
accounted  for,  is,  first,  from  the  general  depravity 
of  our  nature,  and  from  a  singularly  deep  feeling  of 
injury,  and  a  high  sense  of  national  honor.  They 
were  not  the  hasty  outbreakings  of  savage  fury,  but 
were  commenced  in  the  most  solemn  and  deliberate 
manner;  and  not  without  a  prelude  of  remon- 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        159 

strances,  from  the  aggrieved  party,  and  attempts  to 
soothe  and  conciliate  from  the  other.  This  digres- 
sion must  not  be  considered  as  altogether  from  the 
purpose.  To  return  to  the  Indians,  whose  history 
has  its  use  in  illustrating  that  of  mankind :  they 
now  became  fully  sensible  of  the  importance  they 
derived  from  the  increased  wealth  and  undefended 
state  of  the  settlement.  They  discovered  too,  that 
they  held  the  balance  between  the  interior  settle- 
ments of  France  and  England,  which,  though  still 
distant  from  each  other,  were  daily  approximating. 

The  Mohawks,  though  always  brave  and  always 
faithful,  felt  a  very  allowable  repugnance  to  expose 
the  lives  of  their  warriors  in  defence  of  those  who 
made  no  effort  to  defend  themselves ;  who  were 
neither  protected  by  the  arms  of  their  sovereign, 
nor  by  their  own  courage.  They  came  down  to 
hold  a  solemn  congress,  at  which  the  heads  of  the 
Schuyler  and  Cuyler  families  assisted ;  and  where  it 
was  agreed  that  hostilities  should  be  delayed  for  the 
present,  the  hostile  nations  pacified  by  concessions 
and  presents,  and  means  adopted  to  put  the  settle- 
ment in  a  state  of  defence  against  future  aggressions. 

On  all  such  occasions,  when  previously  satisfied 
with  regard  to  the  justice  of  the  grounds  of  quarrel, 
the  Mohawks  promised  their  hearty  cooperation. 
This  they  were  the  readier  to  do,  as  their  young 
brother  Philip  (for  so  they  styled  Colonel  Schuyler) 
offered  not  only  to  head  such  troops  as  might  be 
raised  for  this  purpose,  but  to  engage  his  two  broth- 


160  MEMOIRS 

ers,  who  were  well  acquainted  with  the  whole 
frontier  territory,  to  serve  on  the  same  terms.  This 
was  a  singular  instance  of  public  spirit  in  a  young 
patriot,  who  was  an  entire  stranger  to  the  profession 
of  arms ;  and  whose  sedate  equanimity  of  character 
was  adverse  to  every  species  of  rashness  or  enthusi- 
asm. Meantime  the  provisions  of  the  above-men- 
tioned treaty  could  not  be  carried  into  effect,  till 
they  were  ratified  by  the  assembly  at  New  York, 
and  approved  by  the  governor.  Of  this  there  was 
little  doubt ;  the  difficulty  was  to  raise  and  pay  the 
troops.  In  the  interim,  while  steps  were  taking  to 
legalize  the  project,  in  1719,  the  marriage  betwixt 
Colonel  Schuyler  and  his  cousin  took  place  under 
the  happiest  auspices. 


Chapter  XVI 

ACCOUNT  OF  THE  THREE  BROTHERS 

/COLONEL  Schuyler  and  his  two  brothers  all 
\^  possessed  a  superior  degree  of  intellect,  and 
uncommon  external  advantages.  Peter,  the  only 
one  remaining  when  I  knew  the  family,  was  still  a 
comely  and  dignified  looking  old  gentleman;  and 
I  was  told  his  brothers  were  at  least  equal  to  him 
in  this  respect.  His  youngest  brother  Jeremiah,1 
who  was  much  beloved  for  a  disposition,  frank, 
cheerful  and  generous  to  excess,  had  previously 
married  a  lady  from  New  York  ;  with  whom  he 
obtained  some  fortune  :  a  thing  then  singular  in 
that  country.  This  lady,  whom,  in  her  declining 
years,  I  knew  very  well,  was  the  daughter  of  a 
wealthy  and  distinguished  family  of  French  protest- 
ants.  She  was  lively,  sensible,  and  well  informed. 

Peter,2  the  second,  was  married  to  a  native  of 
Albany.  She  died  early;  but  left  behind  two 
children  ;  and  the  reputation  of  much  worth  and 

1  Peter  and  Jeremiah  Schuyler  were  twins,  and  baptized  in  the 
church  January  iz,  1698,  the  youngest  of  the  children  of  Col.  Peter, 
whom  the  Indians  called  Quidor.  Peter  junior  married  Catharine 

Groesbeck,   and  Jeremiah  married  Susanna  ,    a  Huguenot  lady 

of  New  York.     Jeremiah  was  buried  at  the  Flats  in  1753,  but  Peter 
was  living  September,  1771. 

a  Peter  the  third,  not  the  second.     See  note  on  p.  153. 
VOL.  I.  —  ii 


162  MEMOIRS    OF 

great  attention  to  her  conjugal  and  maternal  duties. 
All  these  relations  lived  with  each  other,  and  with 
the  new  married  lady,  in  habits  of  the  most  cordial 
intimacy  and  perfect  confidence.  They  seemed, 
indeed,  actuated  by  one  spirit ;  having  in  all  things 
similar  views  and  similar  principles.  Looking  up 
to  the  colonel  as  the  head  of  the  family,  whose 
worth  and  affluence  reflected  consequence  upon 
them  all,  they  never  dreamt  of  envying  either  his 
superior  manners,  or  his  wife's  attainments,  which 
they  looked  upon  as  a  benefit  and  ornament  to  the 
whole. 

Soon  after  their  marriage  they  visited  New  York, 
which  they  continued  to  do  once  a  year  in  the 
earlier  period  of  their  marriage,  on  account  of  their 
connection  in  that  city,  and  the  pleasing  and  intelli- 
gent society  that  was  always  to  be  met  with  there, 
both  on  account  of  its  being  the  seat  of  government, 
and  the  residence  of  the  commander-in-chief  on  the 
continent,  who  was  then  necessarily  invested  with 
considerable  power  and  privileges,  and  had,  as  well 
as  the  governor  for  the  time  being,  a  petty  court 
assembled  round  him.  At  a  very  early  period  a 
better  style  of  manners,  greater  ease,  frankness,  and 
polish  prevailed  at  New  York,  than  in  any  of  the 
neighboring  provinces.  There  was,  in  particular, 
a  Brigadier-general  Hunter,1  of  whom  I  have  heard 
Mrs.  Schuyler  talk  a  great  deal,  as  coinciding  with 

1  Robert  Hunter  succeeded  Francis  Lovelace  as  governor  of  New 
York  in  1709,  and  was  governor  of  Jamaica,  in  1728. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        163 

her  husband  successively,  in  their  plans  either  of 
defence  or  improvement.  He,  I  think,  was  then 
governor ;  and  was  as  acceptable  to  the  Schuylers 
for  his  colloquial  talents  and  friendly  disposition,  as 
estimable  for  his  public  spirit  and  application  to 
business,  in  which  respects  he  was  not  equalled  by 
any  of  his  successors.  In  his  circle  the  young 
couple  were  much  distinguished.  There  were  too 
among  those  leading  families,  the  Livingstons  and 
Rensselaers,  friends  connected  with  them  both  by 
blood  and  attachment.  There  was  also  another 
distinguished  family  to  whom  they  were  allied,  and 
with  whom  they  lived  in  cordial  intimacy  ;  these 
were  the  De  Lanceys,  of  French  descent,  but,  by 
subsequent  intermarriages,  blended  with  the  Dutch 
inhabitants.  Of  these  there  were  very  many  then 
in  New  York,  as  will  be  hereafter  explained ;  but 
as  these  conscientious  exiles  were  persons  allied  in 
religion  to  the  primitive  settlers,  and  regular  and 
industrious  in  their  habits,  they  soon  mingled  with 
and  became  a  part  of  that  society,  which  was  en- 
livened by  their  sprightly  manners,  and  benefited 
by  the  useful  arts  they  brought  along  with  them. 
In  this  mixed  society,  which  must  have  had  attrac- 
tion for  young  people  of  superior,  and,  in  some 
degree,  cultivated  intellect,  this  well-matched  pair 
took  great  pleasure ;  and  here,  no  doubt,  was  im- 
proved that  liberality  of  mind  and  manners  which 
so  much  distinguished  them  from  the  less  enlight- 
ened inhabitants  of  their  native  city.  They  were 


164  MEMOIRS 

so  much  caressed  in  New  York,  and  found  so  many 
charms  in  the  intelligent  and  comparatively  polished 
society  of  which  they  made  a  part  there,  that  they 
had  at  first  some  thoughts  of  residing  there. 
These,  however,  soon  gave  way  to  the  persuasions 
of  the  colonel,  with  whom  they  principally  resided 
till  his  death,  which  happened  1721,*  two  years 
after.  This  union  was  productive  of  all  that 
felicity  which  might  be  expected  to  result  from 
entire  congeniality  not  of  sentiment  only,  but  of 
original  dispositions,  attachments,  and  modes  of 
living  and  thinking.  He  had  been  accustomed  to 
consider  her  as  a  child  with  tender  endearment. 
She  had  been  used  to  look  up  to  him  from  infancy 
as  the  model  of  manly  excellence ;  and  they  drew 
knowledge  and  virtue  from  the  same  fountain,  in 
the  mind  of  that  respectable  parent  whom  they 
equally  loved  and  revered. 

1  He  seems  to  have  been  buried  22  September,  1724.     See  Pear- 
son's "  Early  Settlers  of  Albany,"  also  note  i  on  p.  147. 


Chapter  XVII 

,THE   HOUSE  AND   RURAL  ECONOMY   OF  THE 
FLATS  — BIRDS  AND   INSECTS 

I   HAVE  already  sketched  a  general  outline  of 
that  pleasant  home  to  which  the  colonel  was  now 
about  to  bring  his  beloved. 

Before  I  resume  my  narrative,  I  shall  indulge 
myself  in  a  still  more  minute  account  of  the  prem- 
ises, the  mode  of  living,  etc.,  which  will  afford  a 
more  distinct  idea  of  the  country ;  all  the  wealthy 
and  informed  people  of  the  settlement  living  on  a 
smaller  scale,  pretty  much  in  the  same  manner.  Be 
it  known,  however,  that  the  house  I  had  so  much 
delight  in  recollecting,  had  no  pretension  to  gran- 
deur, and  very  little  to  elegance.  It  was  a  large 
brick  house  of  two  or  rather  three  stories  (for  there 
were  excellent  attics),  besides  a  sunk  story,  finished 
with  the  exactest  neatness.  The  lower  floor  had 
two  spacious  rooms,  with  large  light  closets ;  on  the 
first  there  were  three  rooms,  and  in  the  upper  one 
four.  Through  the  middle  of  the  house  was  a  very 
wide  passage,  with  opposite  front  and  back  doors, 
which  in  summer  admitted  a  stream  of  air  peculiarly 
grateful  to  the  languid  senses.  It  was  furnished 
with  chairs  and  pictures  like  a  summer  parlor. 


i66  MEMOIRS    OF 

Here  the  family  usually  sat  in  hot  weather,  when 
there  were  no  ceremonious  strangers. 

Valuable  furniture  (though  perhaps  not  very  well 
chosen  or  assorted)  was  the  favorite  luxury  of  these 
people ;  and  in  all  the  houses  I  remember,  except 
those  of  the  brothers,  who  were  every  way  more 
liberal,  the  mirrors,  the  paintings,  the  china,  but 
above  all,  the  state  bed,  were  considered  as  the 
family  seraphim,  secretly  worshiped,  and  only  ex- 
hibited on  very  rare  occasions.  But  in  Col.  Schuy- 
ler's  family  the  rooms  were  merely  shut  up  to 
keep  the  flies,  which  in  that  country  are  an  absolute 
nuisance,  from  spoiling  the  furniture.1  Another 
motive  was,  that  they  might  be  pleasantly  cool 
when  opened  for  company.  This  house  had  also 
two  appendages  common  to  all  those  belonging  to 
persons  in  easy  circumstances  there.  One  was  a 
large  portico  at  the  door,  with  a  few  steps  leading 
up  to  it,  and  floored  like  a  room;  it  was  open  at 
the  sides,  and  had  seats  all  round.  Above  was 
either  a  slight  wooden  roof,  painted  like  an  awning, 
or  a  covering  of  lattice-work,  over  which  a  trans- 
planted vine  spread  its  luxuriant  leaves  and  numer- 
ous clusters.  These,  though  small,  and  rather  too 
acid  till  sweetened  by  the  frost,  had  a  beautiful 
appearance.  What  gave  an  air  of  liberty  and  safety 
to  these  rustic  porticoes,  which  always  produced  in 
my  mind  a  sensation  of  pleasure  that  I  know  not 

1  They  still  preserve  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Stephen  Schuyler,  some 
of  the  furniture  of  Madame  Schuyler. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         167 

how  to  define,  was  the  number  of  little  birds  do- 
mesticated there.  For  their  accommodation  there 
was  a  small  shelf  built  round,  where  they  nestled, 
sacred  from  the  touch  of  slaves  and  children,  who 
were  taught  to  regard  them  as  the  good  genii  of  the 
place,  not  to  be  disturbed  with  impunity. 

I  do  not  recollect  sparrows  there,1  except  the 
wood-sparrow.  These  little  birds  were  of  various 
kinds  peculiar  to  the  country  ;  but  the  one  most 
frequent  and  familiar  was  a  pretty  little  creature,  of 
a  bright  cinnamon  color,  called  a  wren,  though  little 
resembling  the  one  to  which  we  give  that  name,  for 
it  is  more  sprightly,  and  flies  higher.  Of  these  and 
other  small  birds,  hundreds  gave  and  received 
protection  around  this  hospitable  dwelling.  The 
protection  they  received  consisted  merely  in  the 
privilege  of  being  let  alone.  That  which  they 
bestowed  was  of  more  importance  than  any  inhabit- 
ant of  Britain  can  imagine.  In  these  new  countries, 

1  English  sparrows,  as  they  are  commonly  called,  were  introduced 
into  Albany  about  the  year  1865,  where  they  were  tenderly  cherished 
and  fed,  as  the  enemy  of  worms  that  infested  shade  trees  in  unusual 
number  and  variety.  Their  popularity  was  seriously  diminished, 
however,  when  it  was  discovered  that  they  had  driven  away  the  wrens, 
blue-birds,  robins,  and  other  familiar  birds,  whose  cheerful  notes  had 
been  substituted  by  the  single  harsh  and  monotonous  chirp  of  their 
successors.  Out  of  the  city  precincts  a  different  reception  awaited 
them.  There  the  husbandman,  jealous  of  his  grain  fields,  saluted  the 
sparrow  with  the  shot-gun.  Their  presence  soon  began  to  be  regarded 
in  the  city  as  an  unequal  exchange  for  the  popular  songsters  that  had 
been  driven  away,  and  their  habits  to  be  attended  with  unpleasant 
annoyance. 


168  MEMOIRS    OF 

where  man  has  scarce  asserted  his  dominion,  life 
swarms  abundant  on  every  side ;  the  insect  popu- 
lation is  numerous  beyond  belief,  and  the  birds  that 
feed  on  them  are  in  proportion  to  their  abundance. 
In  process  of  time,  when  their  sheltering  woods  are 
cleared,  all  these  recede  before  their  master,  but  not 
before  his  empire  is  fully  established.  These 
minute  aerial  foes  are  more  harassing  than  the 
terrible  inhabitants  of  the  forest,  and  more  difficult 
to  expel.  It  is  only  by  protecting,  and  in  some 
sort  domesticating,  these  little  winged  allies,  who 
attack  them  in  their  own  element,  that  the  conqueror 
of  the  lion  and  tamer  of  the  elephant  can  hope  to 
sleep  in  peace,  or  eat  his  meals  unpolluted.  While 
breakfasting  or  drinking  tea  in  the  airy  portico, 
which  was  often  the  scene  of  these  meals,  birds  were 
constantly  gliding  over  the  table  with  a  butterfly, 
grasshopper,  or  cicada  in  their  bills,  to  feed  their 
young,  who  were  chirping  above.  These  familiar 
inmates  brushed  by  without  ceremony,  while  the 
chimney  swallow,  the  martin,  and  other  hirundines 
in  countless  numbers  darted  past  in  pursuit  of  this 
aerial  population,  while  the  fields  resounded  with 
the  ceaseless  chirping  of  many  gay  insects  unknown 
to  our  more  temperate  summers.  These  were  now 
and  then  mingled  with  the  animated  and  not  un- 
pleasing  cry  of  the  tree-frog,  a  creature  of  that 
species,  but  of  a  light  slender  form,  almost  trans- 
parent, and  of  a  lively  green ;  it  is  dry  to  the 
touch,  and  has  not  the  dank  moisture  of  its  aquatic 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        169 

relations  ;  in  short  it  is  a  pretty  lively  creature,  with 
a  singular  and  cheerful  note.  This  loud  and  not 
unpleasing  insect  chorus,  with  the  swarms  of  gay 
butterflies  in  constant  motion,  enliven  scenes  to 
which  the  prevalence  of  woods,  rising  "  shade  above 
shade"  on  every  side,  would  otherwise  give  a  still 
and  solemn  aspect.  Several  objects,  which  with  us 
are  no  small  additions  to  the  softened  changes  and 
endless  charms  of  rural  scenery,  it  must  be  confessed 
are  wanting  there.  No  lark  welcomes  the  sun  that 
rises  to  gild  the  dark  forests  and  gleaming  lakes  of 
America ;  no  mellow  thrush  or  deep-toned  black- 
bird warbles  through  these  awful  solitudes,  or 
softens  the  balmy  hour  of  twilight  with 

"  The  liquid  language  of  the  groves" 

Twilight  itself,  the  mild  and  shadowy  hour,  so 
soothing  to  every  feeling,  every  pensive  mind ; 
that  soft  transition  from  day  to  night,  so  dear  to 
peace,  so  due  to  meditation,  is  here  scarce  known, 
at  least  only  known  to  have  its  shortness  regretted. 
No  daisy  hastens  to  meet  the  spring,  or  embellishes 
the  meads  in  summer;  here  no  purple  heath  ex- 
hales its  wholesome  odor,  or  decks  the  arid  waste 
with  the  chastened  glow  of  its  waving  bells.  No 
bonny  broom,  such  as  enlivens  the  narrow  vales 
of  Scotland  with  gaudy  bloom,  nor  flowering  furze 
with  its  golden  blossoms,  defying  the  cold  blasts 
of  early  spring,  animate  their  sandy  wilds.  There 
the  white-blossomed  sloe  does  not  forerun  the 


170  MEMOIRS    OF 

orchard's  bloom,  nor  the  pale  primrose  shelter  its 
modest  head  beneath  the  tangled  shrubs.  Nature, 
bountiful  yet  not  profuse,  has  assigned  her  various 
gifts  to  various  climes,  in  such  a  manner  that 
none  can  claim  a  decided  preeminence;  and  every 
country  has  peculiar  charms,  which  endear  it  to  the 
natives  beyond  any  other.  I  have  been  tempted 
by  lively  recollections  into  a  digression  rather  un- 
warrantable. To  return : 

At  the  back  of  the  large  house  was  a  smaller 
and  lower  one,  so  joined  to  it  as  to  make  the  form 
of  a  cross.  There  one  or  two  lower  and  smaller 
rooms  below,  and  the  same  number  above,  afforded 
a  refuge  to  the  family  during  the  rigors  of  winter, 
when  the  spacious  summer  rooms  would  have  been 
intolerably  cold,  and  the  smoke  of  prodigious  wood 
fires  would  have  sullied  the  elegantly  clean  furni- 
ture. Here,  too,  was  a  sunk  story,  where  the 
kitchen  was  immediately  below  the  eating  parlor, 
and  increased  the  general  warmth  of  the  house. 
In  summer  the  negroes  resided  in  slight  outer 
kitchens,  where  food  was  dressed  for  the  family. 
Those  who  wrought  in  the  fields,  often  had  their 
simple  dinner  cooked  without,  and  ate  it  under 
the  shade  of  a  great  tree.  One  room  I  should 
have  said,  in  the  greater  house  only,  was  opened 
for  the  reception  of  company ;  all  the  rest  were 
bed-chambers  for  their  accommodation,  while  the 
domestic  friends  of  the  family  occupied  neat  little 
bedrooms  in  the  attics,  or  in  the  winter  house. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         171 

This  house  contained  no  drawing-room  ;  that  was 
an  unheard-of  luxury ;  the  winter  rooms  had  car- 
pets ;  the  lobby  had  oil-cloth  painted  in  lozenges, 
to  imitate  blue  and  white  marble.  The  best  bed- 
room was  hung  with  family  portraits,  some  of  which 
were  admirably  executed ;  and  in  the  eating  room, 
which,  by  the  bye,  was  rarely  used  for  that  pur- 
pose, were  some  fine  scripture  paintings ;  that 
which  made  the  greatest  impression  on  my  imagi- 
nation, and  seemed  to  be  universally  admired,  was 
one  of  Esau  coming  to  demand  the  anticipated 
blessing;  the  noble  manly  figure  of  the  luckless 
hunter,  and  the  anguish  expressed  in  his  comely 
though  strong-featured  countenance,  I  shall  never 
forget.  The  house  fronted  the  river,  on  the  brink 
of  which,  under  shades  of  elm  and  sycamore,  ran 
the  great  road  towards  Saratoga,  Stillwater,  and  the 
northern  lakes ;  a  little  simple  avenue  of  morella 
cherry  trees,  enclosed  with  a  white  rail,  led  to  the 
road  and  river,  not  three  hundred  yards  distant. 
Adjoining  to  this,  on  the  south  side,  was  an 
enclosure,  subdivided  into  three  parts,  of  which 
the  first  was  a  small  hay  field,  opposite  the  south 
end  of  the  house ;  the  next,  not  so  long,  a  garden ; 
and  the  third,  by  far  the  largest,  an  orchard. 
These  were  surrounded  by  simple  deal  fences. 
Now  let  not  the  genius  that  presides  over  pleasure- 
grounds,  nor  any  of  his  elegant  votaries,  revolt 
with  disgust  while  I  mention  the  unseemly  orna- 
ments which  were  exhibited  on  the  stakes  to  which 


172  MEMOIRS    OF 

the  deals  of  these  same  fences  were  bound.  Truly 
they  consisted  of  the  skeleton  heads  of  horses  and 
cattle  in  as  great  numbers  as  could  be  procured, 
stuck  upon  the  above  said  poles.  This  was  not 
mere  ornament  either,  but  a  most  hospitable  ar- 
rangement for  the  accommodation  of  the  small 
familiar  birds  before  described.  The  jaws  are  fixed 
on  the  pole,  and  the  skull  uppermost.  The  wren, 
on  seeing  a  skull  thus  placed,  never  fails  to  enter 
by  the  orifice,  which  is  too  small  to  admit  the 
hand  of  an  infant,  lines  the  pericranium  with  small 
twigs  and  horse  hair,  and  there  lays  her  eggs  in 
full  security.  It  is  very  amusing  to  see  the  little 
creature  carelessly  go  out  and  in  at  this  little  aper- 
ture, though  you  should  be  standing  immediately 
beside  it.  Not  satisfied  with  providing  these  singu- 
lar asylums  for  their  feathered  friends,  the  negroes 
never  fail  to  make  a  small  round  hole  in  the  crown 
of  every  old  hat  they  can  lay  their  hands  on,  and 
nail  it  to  the  end  of  the  kitchen,  for  the  same 
purpose.  You  often  see  in  such  a  one,  at  once, 
thirty  or  forty  of  these  odd  little  domicils,  with 
the  inhabitants  busily  going  out  and  in. 

Besides  all  these  salutary  provisions  for  the  do- 
mestic comfort  of  the  birds,  there  was,  in  clearing 
the  way  for  their  first  establishment,  a  tree  always 
left  in  the  middle  of  the  back  yard,  for  their  sole 
emolument :  this  tree  being  purposely  pollarded 
at  midsummer,  when  all  the  branches  were  full  of 
sap.  Wherever  there  had  been  a  branch  the  decay 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         173 

of  the  inside  produced  a  hole  ;  and  every  hole  was 
the  habitation  of  a  bird.  These  were  of  various 
kinds ;  some  of  which  had  a  pleasing  note,  but 
on  the  whole,  their  songsters  are  far  inferior  to 
ours.  I  rather  dwell  on  these  minutiae,  as  they 
not  only  mark  the  peculiarities  of  the  country,  but 
convey  very  truly  the  image  of  a  people  not  too 
refined  for  happiness,  which,  in  the  process  of 
elegant  luxury,  is  apt  to  die  of  disgust. 


Chapter   XVIII 

DESCRIPTION   OF   COLONEL   SCHUYLER'S   BARN 

ADJOINING  to  the  orchard  was  the  most 
spacious  barn  I  ever  beheld ;  which  I  shall 
describe  for  the  benefit  of  such  of  my  readers  as 
have  never  seen  a  building  constructed  on  a  plan 
so  comprehensive.  This  barn,  which,  as  will  here- 
after appear,  answered  many  beneficial  purposes 
besides  those  usually  allotted  for  such  edifices,  was 
of  a  vast  size,  at  least  an  hundred  feet  long,  and 
sixty  wide.  The  roof  rose  to  a  very  great  height 
in  the  midst,  and  sloped  down  till  it  came  within 
ten  feet  of  the  ground,  when  the  walls  commenced ; 
which,  like  the  whole  of  this  fabric,  was  formed 
of  wood.  It  was  raised  three  feet  from  the  ground, 
by  beams  resting  on  stone ;  and  on  these  beams 
were  laid  in  the  middle  of  the  building  a  very 
massive  oak  floor.  Before  the  door  was  a  large 
sill,  sloping  downwards,  of  the  same  materials. 
About  twelve  feet  in  breadth  on  each  side  of  this 
capacious  building  were  divided  off  for  cattle;  on 
one  side  ran  a  manger,  at  the  above  mentioned 
distance  from  the  wall,  the  whole  length  of  the 
building,  with  a  rack  above  it;  on  the  others  were 
stalls  for  the  other  cattle,  running  also  the  whole 
length  of  the  building.  The  cattle  and  horses 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         175 

stood  with  their  hinder  parts  to  the  wall,  and 
their  heads  projecting  towards  the  threshing  floor. 
There  was  a  prodigious  large  box  or  open  chest 
in  one  side  built  up,  for  holding  the  corn  after 
it  was  thrashed  ;  and  the  roof,  which  was  very  lofty 
and  spacious,  was  supported  by  large  cross  beams ; 
from  one  to  the  other  of  these  was  stretched  a  great 
number  of  long  poles,  so  as  to  form  a  sort  of  open 
loft,  on  which  the  whole  rich  crop  was  laid  up. 
The  floor  of  those  parts  of  the  barn,  which  an- 
swered the  purposes  of  a  stable  and  cow-house, 
was  made  of  thick  slab  deals,  laid  loosely  over  the 
supporting  beams.  And  the  mode  of  cleaning 
those  places  was  by  turning  the  boards,  and  per- 
mitting the  dung  and  litter  to  fall  into  the  recepta- 
cles left  open  below  for  the  purpose :  from  thence, 
in  spring  they  were  often  driven  down  the  river, 
the  soil  in  its  original  state  not  requiring  the  aid 
of  manure.  In  the  front1  of  this  vast  edifice  there 
were  prodigious  folding  doors,  and  two  others  that 
opened  behind. 

Certainly  never  did  cheerful  rural  toils  wear  a 
more  exhilarating  aspect  than  while  the  domestics 
were  lodging  the  luxuriant  harvest  in  this  capacious 
repository.  When  speaking  of  the  doors,  I  should 
have  mentioned  that  they  were  made  in  the  gable 
ends  ;  those  in  the  back  equally  large,  to  correspond 
with  those  in  the  front ;  while  on  each  side  of  the 

1  By  the  front  is  meant  the  gable  end,  which  contains  the  en- 
trance. —  Mrs,  Grant. 


176  MEMOIRS    OF 

great  doors  were  smaller  ones,  for  the  cattle  and 
horses  to  enter.  Whenever  the  corn  or  hay  was 
reaped  or  cut,  and  ready  for  carrying  home,  which 
in  that  dry  and  warm  climate  happened  in  a  very 
few  days,  a  wagon  loaded  with  hay,  for  instance, 
was  driven  into  the  midst  of  this  great  barn,  loaded 
also  with  numberless  large  grasshoppers,  butter- 
flies, and  cicadas,  who  came  along  with  the  hay. 
From  the  top  of  the  wagon,  this  was  immediately 
forked  up  into  the  loft  of  the  barn,  in  the  midst 
of  which  was  an  open  space  left  for  the  purpose  ; 
and  then  the  unloaded  wagon  drove,  in  rustic  state, 
out  of  the  great  door  at  the  other  end.  In  the 
meantime  every  member  of  the  family  witnessed, 
or  assisted  in  this  summary  process ;  by  which  the 
building  and  thatching  of  stacks  was  at  once  saved ; 
and  the  whole  crop  and  cattle  were  thus  compendi- 
ously lodged  under  one  roof. 

The  cheerfulness  of  this  animated  scene  was 
much  heightened  by  the  quick  appearance,  and 
vanishing  of  the  swallows  ;  who  twittered  among 
their  high-built  dwellings  in  the  roof  Here,  as 
in  every  other  instance,  the  safety  of  these  domestic 
friends  was  attended  to;  and  an  abode  provided 
for  them.  In  the  front  of  this  barn  were  many 
holes,  like  those  of  a  pigeon-house,  for  the  accom- 
modation of  the  martin :  *  that  being  the  species 

1  The  martin,  the  largest  of  the  swallow  family,  has  disappeared 
from  this  locality.  Seventy  years  ago  elevated  boxes  were  provided 
for  their  accommodation  in  rearing  their  young  at  many  residences  in 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         177 

to  which  this  kind  of  home  seems  most  congenial ; 
and,  in  the  inside  of  the  barn,  I  have  counted 
above  fourscore  at  once.  In  the  winter,  when  the 
earth  was  buried  deep  in  new  fallen  snow,  and  no 
path  fit  for  walking  in  was  left,  this  barn  was  like 
a  great  gallery,  well  suited  for  that  purpose;  and 
furnished  with  pictures,  not  unpleasing  to  a  simple 
and  contented  mind.  As  you  walked  through  this 
long  area,  looking  up,  you  beheld  the  abundance 
of  the  year  treasured  above  you ;  on  one  side  the 
comely  heads  of  your  snorting  steeds  presented 
themselves  arranged  in  seemly  order ;  on  the  other, 
your  kine  displayed  their  meeker  visages,  while 
the  perspective  on  either,  was  terminated  by  heifers 
and  fillies  no  less  interesting.  In  the  midst,  your 
servants  exercised  the  flail ;  and  even,  while  they 
threshed  out  the  straw,  distributed  it  to  the 
expectants  on  both  sides  ;  while  the  "  liberal  hand- 
ful "  was  occasionally  thrown  to  the  many  colored 
poultry  on  the  hill.  Winter  itself  never  made  this 
abode  of  life  and  plenty  cold  or  cheerless.  Here 
you  might  walk  and  view  all  your  subjects,  and 
their  means  of  support,  at  one  glance ;  except, 
indeed,  the  sheep,  for  whom  a  large  and  commo- 
dious building  was  erected  very  near  the  barn  :  the 
roof  of  which  was  furnished  with  a  loft  large  enough 
to  contain  hay  sufficient  for  their  winter's  food. 

city  and  country.      They  appeared  about  the  middle  of  April,  and 
having  reared  two  broods   during  the  summer,    departed   about   the 
third  week  in  August  for  a  warmer  winter  climate. 
VOL.  i. —  12 


iy8  MEMOIRS    OF 

Col.  Schuyler's  barn  was  by  far  the  largest  I 
have  ever  seen :  but  all  of  them,  in  that  country, 
were  constructed  on  the  same  plan,  furnished  with 
the  same  accommodation,  and  presented  the  same 
cheering  aspect.  The  orchard,  as  I  formerly  men- 
tioned, was  on  the  south  side  of  the  barn ;  on 
the  north,  a  little  farther  back  towards  the  wood, 
which  formed  a  dark  screen  behind  this  smiling 
scene,  there  was  an  enclosure,  in  which  the  remains 
of  the  deceased  members  of  the  family  were  de- 
posited. A  field  of  pretty  large  extent,  adjoining 
to  the  house  on  that  side,  remained  uncultivated, 
and  unenclosed  ;  over  it  were  scattered  a  few  large 
apple  trees  of  a  peculiar  kind  ;  the  fruit  of  which 
was  never  appropriated.  This  piece  of  level  and 
productive  land,  so  near  the  family  mansion,  and 
so  adapted  to  various  and  useful  purposes,  was 
never  made  use  of:  but  left  open  as  a  public 
benefit. 

From  the  known  liberality  of  this  munificent 
family,  all  Indians,  or  new  settlers,  on  their  journey, 
whether  they  came  by  land  or  water,  rested  here. 
The  military,  in  passing,  always  formed  a  camp 
on  this  common ;  and  here  the  Indian  wigwams 
were  often  planted ;  here  all  manner  of  garden 
stuff,  fruit,  and  milk,  were  plentifully  distributed 
to  wanderers  of  all  descriptions.  Every  summer, 
for  many  years,  there  was  an  encampment,  either 
of  regular  or  provincial  troops,  on  this  common  : 
and  often  when  the  troops  proceeded  northward, 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY 


179 


a  little  colony  of  helpless  women  and  children, 
belonging  to  them,  was  left  in  a  great  measure 
dependent  on  the  compassion  of  these  worthy 
patriarchs ;  for  such  the  brothers  might  be  justly 
called. 


Chapter  XIX 

MILITARY  PREPARATIONS  — FIDELITY   OF 
THE   MOHAWKS 

THE  first  year  of  the  colonel's  marriage  was 
chiefly  spent  in  New  York,  and  in  visits 
to  the  friends  of  his  bride  and  other  relations. 
The  following  years  they  spent  at  home;  sur- 
rounded daily  by  his  brothers,  and  their  families, 
and  other  relatives,  with  whom  they  maintained 
the  most  affectionate  intercourse.  The  colonel, 
however  (as  I  have  called  him  by  anticipation), 
had,  at  this  time,  his  mind  engaged  by  public 
duties  of  the  most  urgent  nature.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  colonial  assembly ;  and,  by  a  kind 
of  hereditary  right,  was  obliged  to  support  that 
character  of  patriotism,  courage,  and  public  wisdom, 
which  had  so  eminently  distinguished  his  father. 
The  father  of  Mrs.  Schuyler,  too,  had  been  long 
mayor  of  Albany  ; 1  at  that  time  an  office  of  great 
importance :  as  including,  within  itself,  the  entire 
civil  power  exercised  over  the  whole  settlement  as 
well  as  the  town,  and  having  attached  to  it  a  sort 
of  patriarchal  authority ;  for  the  people,  little  ac- 

1  He  was  mayor  from  1703  to  1706.     His  son  Johannis  Jr.,  held 
the  office  1742-3. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        181 

quainted  with  coercion,  and  by  no  means  inclined 
to  submit  to  it,  had,  however,  a  profound  rever- 
ence, as  is  generally  the  case  in  the  infancy  of 
society,  for  the  families  of  their  first  leaders;  whom 
they  had  looked  up  to  merely  as  knowing  them 
to  possess  superior  worth,  talent  and  enterprise. 
In  a  society,  as  yet  uncorrupted,  the  value  of  this 
rich  inheritance  can  only  be  diminished  by  degra- 
dation of  character,  in  the  representative  of  a  family 
thus  self-ennobled  ;  especially  if  he  be  disinterested. 
This,  though  apparently  a  negative  quality,  being 
the  one  of  all  others  that,  combined  with  the  higher 
powers  of  mind,  most  engages  affection  in  private 
and  esteem  in  public  life.  This  is  a  shield  that 
blunts  the  shafts  which  envy  never  fails  to  level 
at  the  prosperous,  even  in  old  establishments ; 
where,  from  the  very  nature  of  things,  a  thousand 
obstructions  rise  in  the  upward  path  of  merit,  and 
a  thousand  temptations  appear  to  mislead  it  from 
its  direct  road ;  and  where  the  rays  of  opinion  are 
refracted  by  so  many  prejudices  of  contending 
interests  and  factions.  Still,  if  any  charm  can  be 
found  to  fix  that  fleeting  phantom  popularity,  this 
is  it ;  it  would  be  very  honorable  to  human  nature, 
if  this  could  be  attributed  to  the  pure  love  of 
virtue ;  but  alas !  multitudes  are  not  made  up  of 
the  wise  or  the  virtuous.  Yet  the  very  unselfish- 
ness of  our  nature  inclines  us  to  love  and  trust 
those  who  are  not  likely  to  desire  any  benefit  from 
us  in  return  for  those  they  confer.  Other  vices 


182  MEMOIRS    OF 

may  be,  if  not  social,  in  some  degree  gregarious : 
but  even  the  avaricious  hate  avarice  in  all  but 
themselves. 

Thus,  inheriting  unstained  integrity,  unbounded 
popularity,  a  cool,  determined  spirit,  and  ample 
possessions,  no  man  had  fairer  pretensions  to  un- 
limited sway,  in  the  sphere  in  which  he  moved, 
than  the  colonel ;  but  of  this,  no  man  could  be  less 
desirous.  He  was  too  wise  and  too  happy  to 
solicit  authority  ;  and  yet  too  public-spirited  and 
too  generous  to  decline  it,  when  any  good  was  to 
be  done  or  any  evil  resisted  ;  from  which  no 
private  benefit  resulted  to  himself. 

Young  as  his  wife  was,  and  much  as  she  valued 
the  blessing  of  their  union,  and  the  pleasure  of  his 
society,  she  showed  a  spirit  worthy  of  a  Roman 
matron ;  in  willingly  risking  all  her  happiness, 
even  in  that  early  period  of  her  marriage,  by  con- 
senting to  his  assuming  a  military  command  ;  and 
leading  forth  the  provincial  troops  against  the  com- 
mon enemy  ;  who  had  now  become  more  boldly 
dangerous  than  ever.  Not  content  with  secretly 
stimulating  the  Indian  tribes,  who  were  their  allies, 
and  enemies  to  the  Mohawks,  to  acts  of  violence, 
the  French  Canadians,  in  violation  of  existing  trea- 
ties, began  to  make  incursions  on  the  slightest 
pretexts.  It  was  no  common  warfare  in  which  the 
colonel  was  about  to  engage  ;  but  the  duties  of 
entering  on  vigorous  measures  for  the  defence  of 
the  country,  became  not  only  obvious  but  urgent. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         183 

No  other  person  but  he  had  influence  enough  to 
produce  any  cohesion  among  the  people  of  that 
district,  or  any  determination,  with  their  own  arms 
and  at  their  own  cost,  to  attack  the  common  enemy. 
As  formerly  observed,  this  had  hitherto  been  trusted 
to  the  five  confederate  Mohawk  nations ;  who, 
though  still  faithful  to  their  old  friends,  had  too 
much  sagacity  and  observation,  and  indeed  too 
strong  a  native  sense  of  rectitude  to  persuade  their 
young  warriors  to  go  on  venturing  their  lives  in 
defence  of  those,  who,  from  their  increased  power 
and  numbers,  were  able  to  defend  themselves  with 
the  aid  of  their  allies.  Add  to  this,  that  their  pos- 
sessions were  on  all  sides  daily  extending ;  and 
that  they,  the  Albanians,  were  carrying  their  trade 
for  furs,  etc.,  into  the  deepest  recesses  of  the  forests, 
and  towards  those  great  lakes  which  the  Canadians 
were  accustomed  to  consider  as  the  boundaries  of 
their  dominions ;  and  where  they  had  Indians 
whom  they  were  at  great  pains  to  attach  to  them- 
selves, and  to  inspire  against  us  and  our  allies. 

Colonel  Schuyler's  father  had  held  the  same  rank 
in  a  provincial  corps  formerly  :  but  in  his  time, 
there  was  a  profound  peace  in  the  district  he  inhab- 
ited ;  though  from  his  resolute  temper,  and  knowl- 
edge of  public  business,  and  of  the  different  Indian 
languages,  he  was  selected  to  head  a  regiment  raised 
in  the  Jerseys  and  the  adjacent  bounds,  for  the 
defence  of  the  back  frontiers  of  Pennsylvania,  New 
England,  etc.  Colonel  Philip  Schuyler  was  the 


i84  MEMOIRS    OF 

first  who  raised  a  corps  in  the  interior  of  the  pro- 
vince of  New  York ;  which  was  not  only  done  by 
his  personal  influence,  but  occasioned  him  a  con- 
siderable expense,  though  the  regiment  was  paid  by 
the  province,  the  province  also  furnishing  arms 
and  military  stores ;  their  service  being,  like  that 
of  all  provincials,  limited  to  the  summer  half 
year.1 

The  governor  and  chief  commander  came  up  to 
Albany  to  view  and  approve  the  preparations  mak- 
ing for  this  interior  war,  and  to  meet  the  congress 
of  Indian  sachems ;  who  on  that  occasion,  renewed 
their  solemn  league  with  their  brother  the  great 
king.  Colonel  Schuyler,  being  then  the  person 
they  most  looked  up  to  and  confided  in,  was  their 
proxy  on  this  occasion  in  ratifying  an  engagement 
to  which  they  ever  adhered  with  singular  fidelity. 
And  mutual  presents  brightened  the  chain  of  amity, 
to  use  their  own  figurative  language. 

The  common   and  the  barn,  at  the  Flats,  were 

1  After  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  1713,  there  was  peace  between 
England  and  France  about  thirty  years,  during  which  time  their 
American  colonies  enjoyed  repose.  In  the  meantime  the  French  of 
Canada  built  Fort  St.  Frederick  at  Crown  Point  on  Lake  Champlain, 
and  made  other  preparations  for  future  hostilities.  About  1743,  dur- 
ing the  war  of  the  Austrian  Succession,  so  called,  the  colonies  were 
again  in  arms.  Fort  St.  Frederick  was  a  standing  menace  to  New 
York  and  New  England,  and  they  organized  an  army  for  its  capture. 
Col.  Philip  Schuyler,  commanding  the  Albany  militia,  took  part  in 
the  military  preparations  for  the  expedition.  His  cousin,  Col.  Peter 
Schuyler  of  New  Jersey,  and  not  his  father,  who  had  been  dead  sev- 
eral years,  commanded  a  regiment,  and  was  required  to  defend  the 
frontiers  of  his  state  and  of  Pennsylvania. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         185 

fully  occupied,  and  the  hospitable  mansion,  as  was 
usual  on  all  public  occasions,  overflowed.  There 
the  general,  his  aid-de-camps,  the  sachems,  and  the 
principal  officers  of  the  colonel's  regiment,  were 
received  ;  and  those  who  could  not  find  room  there 
of  the  next  class,  were  accommodated  by  Peter 
and  Jeremiah.  On  the  common  was  an  Indian 
encampment :  and  the  barn  and  orchard  were  full 
of  the  provincials.  All  these  last  brought  as  usual 
their  own  food;  but  were  supplied  by  this  liberal 
family  with  every  production  of  the  garden,  dairy, 
and  orchard.  While  the  colonel's  judgment  was 
exercised  in  the  necessary  regulations  for  this  un- 
tried warfare,  Mrs.  Schuyler,  by  the  calm  fortitude 
she  displayed  in  this  trying  exigence,  by  the  good 
sense  and  good  breeding  with  which  she  accom- 
modated her  numerous  and  various  guests,  and 
by  those  judicious  attentions  to  family  concerns, 
which,  producing  order  and  regularity  through 
every  department  without  visible  bustle  and  anxiety, 
enable  the  mistress  of  a  family  to  add  grace  and 
ease  to  hospitality,  showed  herself  worthy  of  her 
distinguished  lot. 


Chapter    XX 

A     REFRACTORY    WARRIOR  —  THE    SPIRIT    PER- 
VADING THE   NEW    ENGLAND   PROVINCES 

WHILE  these  preparations  were  going  on,  the 
general l  [Gov.  Shirley]  was  making  every 
effort  of  the  neighborhood  to  urge  those  who  had 
promised    assistance,  to    come   forward  with    their 
allotted  quotas. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  river,  not  very  far  from 
the  Flats,  lived  a  person  whom  I  shall  not  name ; 
though  his  conduct  was  so  peculiar  and  character- 
istic of  the  times,  that  his  anti-heroism  is  on  that 
sole  account  worth  mentioning.  This  person  lived 
in  great  security  and  abundance,  in  a  place  like  an 
earthly  paradise,  and  scarcely  knew  what  it  was  to 
have  an  ungratified  wish,  having  had  considerable 
wealth  left  to  him  ;  and  from  the  simple  and  do- 
mestic habits  of  his  life,  had  formed  no  desires 
beyond  it,  unless  indeed  it  were  the  desire  of  being 

1  The  courage,  ability  and  energy  of  Gov.  Shirley  were  not  emi- 
nently appreciated  in  New  York.  Yet  his  acts  are  abundantly  re- 
corded in  the  volumes  of  the  documentary  history  of  that  colony.  He 
has  found  an  ardent  vindicator  in  Samuel  G.  Drake,  in  the  "  Particular 
History  of  the  French  and  Indian  War"  (1870),  in  which  his  civil 
and  military  services  are  set  forth  advantageously,  and  he  is  character- 
ized as  one  of  the  ablest  of  the  colonial  governors. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         187 

thought  a  brave  man,  which  seemed  his  greatest 
ambition  :  he  was  strong,  robust,  and  an  excellent 
marksman ;  talked  loud,  looked  fierce,  and  always 
expressed  the  utmost  scorn  and  detestation  of  cow- 
ardice. The  colonel  applied  to  him,  that  his  name, 
and  the  names  of  such  adherents  as  he  could  bring, 
might  be  set  down  in  the  list  of  those  who  were  to 
bring  their  quota,  against  a  given  time,  for  the  gen- 
eral defence  ;  with  the  request  he  complied.  When 
the  rendezvous  came  on,  this  talking  warrior  had 
changed  his  mind,  and  absolutely  refused  to  appear ; 
the  general  sent  for  him,  and  warmly  expostulated 
on  his  breach  of  promise  ;  the  bad  example,  and 
the  disarrangement  of  plan  which  it  occasioned:  the 
culprit  spoke  in  a  high  tone,  saying,  very  truly 
"  that  the  general  was  possessed  of  no  legal  means 
of  coercion;  that  every  one  went  or  staid  as  they 
chose  ;  and  that  his  change  of  opinion  on  that  sub- 
ject rendered  him  liable  to  no  penalty  whatever." 
Tired  of  this  sophistry,  the  enraged  general  had 
recourse  to  club  law ;  and  seizing  a  cudgel,  be- 
labored this  recreant  knight  most  manfully ;  while 
several  Indian  sachems,  and  many  of  his  own  coun- 
trymen and  friends,  coolly  stood  by ;  for  the  colo- 
nel's noted  common  was  the  scene  of  his  assault. 
Our  poor  neighbor  (as  he  long  after  became)  suffered 
this  dreadful  bastinado,  unaided  and  unpitied ;  and 
this  example,  and  the  subsequent  contempt  under 
which  he  labored  (for  he  was  ever  after  styled  cap- 
tain, and  he  did  not  refuse  the  title),  was  said  to 


188  MEMOIRS    OF 

have  an  excellent  effect  in  preventing  such  retro- 
grade motions  in  subsequent  campaigns.1  The 
provincial  troops,  aided  by  the  faithful  Mohawks, 
performed  their  duty  with  great  spirit  and  per- 
severance. They  were,  indeed,  very  superior  to 
the  ignorant,  obstinate,  and  mean-souled  beings, 
who,  in  after  times,  brought  the  very  name  of  pro- 
vincial troops  into  discredit ;  and  were  actuated  by 
no  single  motive  but  that  of  avoiding  the  legal 
penalty  then  affixed  to  disobedience,  and  enjoying 
the  pay  and  provisions  allotted  to  them  by  the 
province  or  the  mother  country,  I  cannot  exactly 
say  which.  Afterwards,  when  the  refuse  of  man- 
kind were  selected,  like  Falstaff's  soldiers,  and 
raised  much  in  the  same  way,  the  New  York  troops 
still  maintained  their  respectability.  This  superi- 
ority might,  without  reproaching  others,  be  in  some 
measure  accounted  for  from  incidental  causes.  The 
four  New  England  provinces  were  much  earlier 

1  Above  thirty  years  after,  when  the  writer  of  these  pages  lived 
with  her  family  at  the  Flats,  the  hero  of  this  little  tale  used  very  fre- 
quently to  visit  her  father,  a  veteran  officer  j  and  being  a  great  talker, 
war  and  politics  were  his  incessant  topics.  There  was  no  campaign 
or  expedition  proposed  but  what  he  censured  and  decided  on  ;  pro- 
posing methods  of  his  own,  by  which  they  might  have  been  much 
better  conducted  ;  in  short  Parolles  with  his  drum  was  a  mere  type  of 
our  neighbor.  Her  father  long  wondered  how  kindly  he  took  to  him, 
and  how  a  person  of  so  much  wealth  and  eloquence  should  dwell  so 
obscurely,  and  shun  all  the  duties  of  public  life  ;  till  at  length  we 
discovered  that  he  still  loved  to  talk  arrogantly  of  war  and  public 
affairs,  and  pitched  upon  him  for  a  listener,  as  the  only  person  he 
could  suppose  ignorant  of  his  disgrace.  Such  is  human  nature  !  and 
so  incurable  is  human  vanity  !  !  —  Mrs.  Grant. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         189 

settled,  assumed  sooner  the  forms  of  a  civil  com- 
munity, and  lived  within  narrower  bounds ;  they 
were  more  laborious ;  their  fanaticism,  which  they 
brought  from  England  in  its  utmost  fervor,  long 
continued  its  effervescence,  where  there  were  no 
pleasures,  or  indeed  lucrative  pursuits,  to  detach 
their  mind  from  it,  and  long  after  that  genuine  spirit 
of  piety,  which,  however  narrowed  and  disfigured, 
was  still  sincere,  had  in  a  great  measure  evaporated ; 
enough  of  the  pride  and  rigor  of  bigotry  remained 
to  make  them  detest  and  despise  the  Indian  tribes, 
as  ignorant  heathen  savages.  The  tribes,  indeed, 
who  inhabited  their  district,  had  been  so  weakened 
by  an  unsuccessful  warfare  with  the  Mohawks,  and 
were  so  every  way  inferior  to  them,  that  after  the 
first  establishment  of  the  colony,  and  a  few  feeble 
attacks  successfully  repulsed,  they  were  no  longer 
enemies  to  be  dreaded,  or  friends  to  be  courted. 
This  had  an  unhappy  effect  with  regard  to  those 
provinces ;  and  to  the  different  relations  in  which 
they  stood  with  respect  to  the  Indian,  some  part 
of  the  striking  difference  in  the  moral  and  military 
character  of  these  various  establishments  must  be 
attributed. 

The  people  of  New  England  left  the  mother 
country,  as  banished  from  it  by  what  they  con- 
sidered oppression;  came  over  foaming  with  reli- 
gious and  political  fury,  and  narrowly  missed  having 
the  most  artful  and  able  of  demagogues,  Cromwell 
himself,  for  their  leader  and  guide.  They  might  be 


190  MEMOIRS 

compared  to  lava,  discharged  by  the  fury  of  internal 
combustion,  from  the  bosom  of  the  commonwealth, 
while  inflamed  by  contending  elements.  This  lava, 
every  one  acquainted  with  the  convulsions  of  nature 
must  know,  takes  a  long  time  to  cool ;  and  when  at 
length  it  is  cooled,  turns  to  a  substance  hard  and 
barren,  that  long  resists  the  kindly  influence  of  the 
elements,  before  its  surface  resumes  the  appearance 
of  beauty  and  fertility.  Such  were  the  almost  lit- 
eral effects  of  political  convulsions,  aggravated  by 
a  fiery  and  intolerant  zeal  for  their  own  mode  of 
worship,  on  these  self-righteous  colonists. 

These  preliminary  remarks  on  the  diversity  of 
character  in  those  neighboring  provinces  lead  the 
way,  in  the  meantime,  to  a  discrimination,  the  ef- 
fects of  which  have  become  interesting  to  the 
whole  world. 


Chapter  XXI 

DISTINGUISHING  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE 
NEW  YORK  COLONISTS  — HUGUENOTS  AND 
PALATINES 

BUT  to  return  to  the  superior  moral  and  mili- 
tary character  of  the  New  York  populace. 
It  was  in  the  first  place  owing  to  a  well-regulated 
piety,  less  concerned  about  forms  than  essentials. 
Next,  to  an  influx  of  other  than  the  original  settlers, 
which  tended  to  render  the  general  system  of  opinion 
more  liberal  and  tolerant.  The  French  protestants, 
driven  from  their  native  land  by  intolerant  bigotry, 
had  lived  at  home  excluded  alike  from  public  em- 
ployments and  fashionable  society.  Deprived  of 
so  many  resources  that  were  open  to  their  fellow 
subjects,  and  forced  to  seek  comfort  in  piety  and 
concord  for  many  privations,  self-command  and  fru- 
gality had  been  in  a  manner  forced  upon  them  ; 
consequently  they  were  not  so  vain  or  so  volatile  as 
to  disgust  their  new  associates  ;  while  their  cheer- 
ful tempers,  accommodating  manners,  and  patience 
under  adversity,  were  very  prepossessing. 

These  additional  inhabitants,  being  such  as  had 
suffered  real  and  extreme  hardships  for  conscience 
sake,  from  absolute  tyranny  and  the  most  cruel  in- 
tolerance, rejoiced  in  the  free  exercise  of  a  pure  and 


i9ft  MEMOIRS    OF 

rational  religion,  and  in  the  protection  of  mild  and 
equitable  laws,  as  the  first  of  human  blessings ; 
which  privation  had  so  far  taught  them  to  value, 
that  they  thought  no  exertion  too  great  to  preserve 
them.  I  should  have  formerly  mentioned,  besides 
the  French  refugees  already  spoken  of,  during  the 
earliest  period  of  the  establishment  of  the  British 
sovereignty  in  this  part  of  the  continent,  a  great 
number  of  the  protestants,  whom  the  fury  of  war 
and  persecution  on  religious  accounts  had  driven 
from  the  Palatinate,  during  the  successful  and 
desolating  period  of  the  wars  carried  on  against  that 
unhappy  country  by  Louis  the  Fourteenth.  The 
subdued  and  contented  spirit,  the  simple  and  primi- 
tive manners,  and  frugal,  industrious  habits  of  these 
genuine  sufferers  for  conscience  sake,  made  them  an 
acquisition  to  any  society  which  received  them,  and 
a  most  suitable  infusion  among  the  inhabitants  of 
this  province  ;  who,  devoted  to  the  pursuits  of  agri- 
culture and  the  Indian  trade,  which  encouraged  a 
wild  romantic  spirit  of  adventure,  little  relished 
those  mechanical  employments,  or  that  petty  yet 
necessary  traffic  in  shops,  etc.,  to  which  part  of 
every  regulated  society  must  needs  devote  their  at- 
tention. These  civic  toils  were  left  to  those  patient 
and  industrious  exiles  ;  while  the  friendly  intercourse 
with  the  original  natives  had  strongly  tinctured  the 
first  colonists  with  many  of  their  habits  and  modes 
of  thinking.  Like  them,  they  delighted  in  hunt- 
ing ;  that  image  of  war,  which  so  generally,  where 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         193 

it  is  the  prevalent  amusement,  forms  the  body  to 
athletic  force  and  patient  endurance,  and  the  mind 
to  daring  intrepidity.  It  was  not  alone  the  timor- 
ous deer  or  feeble  hare  that  were  the  objects  of  their 
pursuit;  nor  could  they  in  such  an  impenetrable 
country  attempt  to  rival  the  fox  in  speed  or 
subtlety.  When  they  kept  their  "few  sheep  in 
the  wilderness,"  the  she  bear,  jealous  for  her  young, 
and  the  wolf,  furious  for  prey,  were  to  be  encountered 
for  their  protection.  From  these  allies  too,  many 
who  lived  much  among  them  had  learnt  that  fear- 
less adherence  to  truth,  which  exalts  the  mind  to 
the  noblest  kind  of  resolution.  The  dangers  they 
were  exposed  to  of  meeting  wandering  individuals, 
or  parties  of  hostile  Indians,  while  traversing  the 
woods  in  their  sporting  or  commercial  adventures, 
and  the  necessity  that  sometimes  occurred  of  de- 
fending their  families  by  their  own  personal  prow- 
ess, from  the  stolen  irruptions  of  detached  parties 
of  those  usually  called  the  French  Indians,  had  also 
given  their  minds  a  warlike  bent ;  and  as  a  boy  was 
not  uncommonly  trusted  at  nine  or  ten  years  of  age 
with  a  light  fowlingpiece,  which  he  soon  learned  to 
use  with  great  dexterity,  few  countries  could  pro- 
duce such  dexterous  marksmen,  or  persons  so  well 
qualified  for  conquering  those  natural  obstacles  of 
thick  woods  and  swamps,  which  would  at  once  baffle 
the  most  determined  European.  It  was  not  only 
that  they  were  strong  of  limb,  swift  of  foot,  and  ex- 
cellent marksmen  —  the  hatchet  was  as  familiar  to 
VOL.  i.  —  13 


I94  MEMOIRS 

them  as  the  musket ;  and  an  amateur,  who  had 
never  cut  wood  but  for  his  diversion,  could  hew 
down  a  tree  with  a  celerity  that  would  astonish  and 
abash  a  professed  wood-cutter  in  this  country;  in 
short,  when  means  or  arguments  could  be  used 
powerful  enough  to  collect  a  people  so  uncon- 
trolled and  so  uncontrollable,  and  when  headed 
by  a  leader  whom  they  loved  and  trusted,  so  much 
as  they  did  Col.  Schuyler,  a  well  armed  body  of 
New  York  provincials  had  nothing  to  dread  but  an 
ague  or  an  ambuscade,  to  both  of  which  they  were 
much  exposed  on  the  banks  of  the  lakes,  and  amidst 
the  swampy  forests,  through  which  they  had  to  pene- 
trate in  pursuit  of  an  enemy  of  whom  they  might 
say  with  the  Grecian  hero,  that  "  they  wanted  but 
daylight  to  conquer  him."  This  first  essay  in  arms 
of  those  provincials,  under  the  auspices  of  their 
brave  and  generous  leader,  succeeded  beyond  their 
hopes.  This  is  all  I  can  recollect  of  it.  Of  its  des- 
tination I  only  know  that  it  was  directed  against 
some  of  those  establishments  which  the  French 
began  to  make  within  the  British  boundaries.  The 
expedition  only  terminated  with  the  season.  The 
provincials  brought  home  Canadian  prisoners,  who 
were  kept  on  their  parole  in  the  houses  of  the  three 
brothers,  and  became  afterwards  their  friends  ;  and 
the  Five  Nations  brought  home  Indian  prisoners, 
most  of  whom  they  adopted,  and  scalps  enough  to 
strike  awe  into  the  adverse  nations,  who  were  for  a 
year  or  two  afterwards  pretty  quiet. 


Chapter  XXII 

ADOPTION     OF     CHILDREN     COMMON     IN     THE 
PROVINCE— MADAME' S  VISIT   TO  NEW   YORK 

MRS.  SCHUYLER  had  contributed  all  in  her 
power  to  forward  this  expedition  :  but  was 
probably  hurt,  either  by  the  fatigue  of  receiving  so 
many  friends,  or  the  anxiety  produced  by  parting 
with  them  under  such  circumstances  ;  for  soon  after 
the  colonel's  departure  she  was  delivered  of  a  dead 
child,  which  event  was  followed  by  an  alarming  ill- 
ness ;  but  she  wished  the  colonel  to  be  kept  in 
ignorance  of  it,  that  he  might  give  his  undivided 
attention  to  the  duties  in  which  he  was  engaged. 
Providence,  which  doubtless  had  singled  out  this 
benevolent  pair  to  be  the  parents  of  many  who  had 
no  natural  claim  upon  their  affection,  did  not  indulge 
them  with  any  succeeding  prospects  of  a  family  of 
their  own.  This  privation,  not  a  frequent  one  in 
this  colony,  did  not  chill  the  minds  or  narrow  the 
hearts  of  people,  who,  from  this  circumstance,  found 
themselves  more  at  liberty  to  extend  their  benefi- 
cence, and  enlarged  that  circle  which  embraced  the 
objects  of  their  love  and  care.  This  indeed  was  not 
singular  during  that  reign  of  natural  feeling  which 
preceded  the  prevalence  of  artificial  modes  in  this 


196  MEMOIRS    OF 

primitive  district.  The  love  of  offspring  is  certainly 
one  of  the  strongest  desires  that  the  uncorrupted 
mind  forms  to  itself  in  a  state  of  comparative  in- 
nocence. Affecting  indifference  on  this  subject  is 
the  surest  proof  of  a  disposition  either  callous,  or 
led  by  extreme  vanity  to  pretend  insensibility  to 
the  best  feelings  of  nature. 

To  a  tie  so  exquisitely  tender,  the  pledge  and 
bond  of  connubial  union  ;  to  that  bud  of  promised 
felicity,  which  always  cheers  with  the  fragrance  of 
hope  the  noon-day  of  toil  or  care,  and  often  sup- 
ports with  the  rich  cordial  of  filial  love  and  watchful 
duty  the  evening  of  our  decline,  what  mind  can 
be  indifferent.  No  wonder  the  joys  of  paternity 
should  be  highly  relished  where  they  were  so  richly 
flavored ;  where  parents  knew  not  what  it  was  to 
find  a  rebel  or  a  rival  in  a  child ;  first,  because 
they  set  the  example  of  simplicity,  of  moderation, 
and  of  seeking  their  highest  joys  in  domestic  life  ; 
next,  because  they  quietly  expected  and  calmly 
welcomed  the  evening  of  life  ;  and  did  not,  by  an 
absurd  desire  of  being  young  too  long,  inspire  their 
offspring  with  a  premature  ambition  to  occupy 
their  place.  What  sacrifices  have  I  not  seen  made 
to  filial  piety  !  How  many  respectable  (though 
not  young)  maidens,  who  without  pretending  a 
dislike  to  marriage,  have  rejected  men  whom  their 
hearts  approved,  because  they  would  not  forsake, 
during  her  lifetime,  a  widowed  mother,  whose  sole 
comfort  they  were? 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         197 

For  such  children  who,  that  hopes  to  grow  old, 
would  not  wish  ?     A  consideration  which  the  most 
polished  manners  of  Europe  teach  us  to  banish  as 
far  as  possible  from  our  minds.     We  have  learned 
to  check  this  natural  sentiment,  by  finding   other 
objects   for   those   faculties    of   our   minds,    which 
nature  intended  to  bless  and  benefit  creatures  born 
to  love  us,  and  to  enlarge  our  affections  by  exciting 
them.     If  this  stream,  which  so  naturally  inclines 
to  flow  downwards,  happened  to  be  checked  in  its 
course  for  want  of  the  usual  channel,  these  adepts 
in  the  science  of  happiness  immediately  formed  a 
new  one,  and  liked  their  canal  as  well  as  a  river, 
because  it  was   of  their  own  making.     To  speak 
without  a  metaphor,  whoever  wanted  a  child  adopted 
one ;  love  produced    love,    and    the  grafted   scion 
very  often  proved  an  ornament  and  defence  to  the 
supporting  stock.     But  then  the  scion  was  generally 
artless  and  graceful.     This  is  a  part  of  the  manners 
of  my  old  friends  which  I  always  remember  with 
delight ;  more  particularly  as  it  was  the  invariable 
custom  to  select  the  child  of  a  friend  who  had  a 
numerous  family.     The  very  animals  are  not  devoid 
of  that  mixture  of  affection  and  sagacity,  which  sug- 
gests a  mode  of  supplying  his  great  desideratum. 
Next  to  that  prince  of  cats,  the  famous  cat  of  Whit- 
tington,  I  would  place  the  cat  recorded  by  Dr.  White 
in  his  curious  natural  history,  who  when  deprived  of 
her  young,  sought  a  parcel  of  deserted  leverets  to 
suckle  and  to  fondle.     What  an  example! 


i98  MEMOIRS    OF 

The  following  year  produced  a  suspension  of 
hostilities  between  the  provinces  and  the  Canadians. 
The  colonel  went  to  New  York  to  attend  his  duty, 
being  again  chosen  a  member  of  the  colonial  as- 
sembly. Mrs.  Schuyler  accompanied  him ;  and 
being  improved  both  in  mind  and  manners  since 
her  marriage,  which,  by  giving  her  a  more  important 
part  to  act,  had  called  forth  her  powers,  she  became 
the  centre  of  a  circle  by  no  means  inelegant  or 
uninformed;  for  society  was  there  more  various 
and  more  polished  than  in  any  other  part  of  the 
continent,  both  from  the  mixture  of  settlers,  form- 
erly described,  and  from  its  being  situated  in  a 
province  most  frequently  the  seat  of  war,  and  con- 
sequently forming  the  head-quarters  of  the  army, 
which,  in  point  of  the  birth  and  education  of  the 
candidates  for  promotion,  was  on  a  very  different 
footing  from  what  it  has  been  since.  It  was  then 
a  much  narrower  range,  and  the  selection  more 
attended  to.  Unless  a  man,  by  singular  powers  or 
talent,  fought  his  way  from  the  inferior  ranks, 
there  was  hardly  an  instance  of  a  person  getting 
even  a  subaltern's  commission  whose  birth  was  not 
at  least  genteel,  and  who  had  not  interest  and 
alliances.  There  were  not  so  many  lucrative  places 
under  government.  The  wide  field  of  adventure 
since  opened  in  the  East  was  scarcely  known  ;  a 
subaltern's  pay  was  more  adequate  to  the  main- 
tenance of  a  gentleman ;  and  the  noblest  and  most 
respected  families  had  no  other  way  of  providing 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         199 

for  such  younger  brothers,  as  were  not  bred  to 
any  learned  profession  but  by  throwing  them  into 
the  army.  As  to  morals,  this  did  not  perhaps  much 
mend  the  matter.  These  officers  might  in  some 
instances  be  thoughtless,  and  even  profligate,  but 
they  were  seldom  ignorant  or  low  bred  ;  and  that 
rare  character  called  a  finished  gentleman,  was  not 
unfrequently  to  be  found  among  the  higher  ranks 
of  them ;  who  had  added  experience,  reading,  and 
reflection  to  their  original  stock  of  talents  and 
attainments. 


Chapter  XXIII 

COLONEL  SCHUYLER'S  MILITARY  PARTIALITY  — 
INDIAN  CHARACTER  FALSELY  CHARGED  WITH 
IDLENESS 

IT  so  happened  that  a  succession  of  officers,  of 
the  description  mentioned  in  the  preceding 
chapter,  were  to  be  ordered  upon  the  service  which 
I  have  been  detailing;  and  whether  in  New  York 
or  at  home,  they  always  attached  themselves  par- 
ticularly to  this  family,  who,  to  the  attractions  of 
good  breeding  and  easy  intelligent  conversation, 
added  the  power,  which  they  preeminently  pos- 
sessed, of  smoothing  the  way  for  their  necessary 
intercourse  with  the  independent  and  self-righted 
settlers,  and  instructing  them  in  many  things 
essential  to  promote  the  success  of  the  pursuits  in 
which  they  were  about  to  engage.  It  was  one  of 
Aunt  Schuyler's  many  singular  merits,  that,  after 
acting  for  a  time  a  distinguished  part  in  this  com- 
paratively refined  society,  where  few  were  so  much 
admired  and  esteemed,  she  could  return  to  the 
homely  good  sense  and  primitive  manners  of  her 
fellow  citizens  at  Albany,  free  from  fastidiousness 
and  disgust.  Few  indeed,  without  study  or  design, 
ever  better  understood  the  art  of  being  happy,  and 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       201 

making  others  so.  Being  gay  is  another  sort  of 
thing ;  gaiety,  as  the  word  is  understood  in  society, 
is  too  often  assumed,  artificial,  and  produced  by 
such  an  effort,  that  in  the  midst  of  laughter,  "  the 
heart  is  indeed  sad."  Very  different  are  the  smiles 
that  occasionally  illume  the  placid  countenance  of 
cheerful  tranquillity.  They  are  the  emanations  of  a 
heart  at  rest :  in  the  enjoyment  of  that  sunshine 
of  the  breast,  which  is  set  forever  to  the  restless 
votaries  of  mere  amusement. 

According  to  the  laudable  custom  of  the  country 
they  took  home  a  child,  whose  mother  had  died  in 
giving  her  birth,  and  whose  father  was  a  relation 
of  the  colonel's.  This  child's  name  was  either 
Schuyler  or  Cuyler,  I  do  not  exactly  remember 
which ; J  but  I  remember  her  many  years  after  as 
Mrs.  Vander  Poolen ;  when,  as  a  comely  contented 
looking  matron,  she  used  to  pay  her  annual  visit  to 
her  benefactress,  and  send  her  ample  presents  of 
such  rural  dainties  as  her  abode  afforded.  I  have 
often  heard  her  warm  in  her  praises;  saying  how 
useful,  how  modest,  and  how  affectionate  she  had 
been ;  and  exulting  in  her  comfortable  settlement, 
and  the  plain  worth,  which  made  her  a  blessing  to 
her  family.  From  this  time  to  her  aunt's  death, 
above  fifty  years  afterwards,  her  house  was  never 
without  one,  but  much  oftener  two  children,  whom 

1  Maria,  a  sister  of  Aunt  Schuyler' s  husband,  married  Abraham 
Staats.  They  had  three  children,  Peter,  Barent  and  Annatje.  Peter 
died  young,  and  Annatje  married  Johannes  Van  der  Poel. 


202  MEMOIRS    OF 

this  exemplary  pair  educated  with  parental  care  and 
kindness.  And  whenever  one  of  their  proteges 
married  out  of  the  house,  which  was  generally  at  a 
very  early  age,  she  carried  with  her  a  female  slave, 
born  and  baptized  in  the  house,  and  brought  up 
with  a  thorough  knowledge  of  her  duty,  and  an 
habitual  attachment  to  her  mistress;  besides  the 
usual  present  of  the  furniture  of  a  chamber,  and  a 
piece  of  plate,  such  as  a  tea-pot,  tankard,  or  some 
such  useful  matter,  which  was  more  or  less  valuable 
as  the  protege  was  more  or  less  beloved :  for  though 
Aunt  Schuyler  had  great  satisfaction  from  the 
characters  and  conduct  of  all  her  adopted,  there 
were,  no  doubt,  degrees  of  merit  among  them,  of 
which  she  was  better  able  to  judge  than  if  she  had 
been  their  actual  mother. 

There  was  now  an  interval  of  peace,  which  gave 
these  philanthropists  more  leisure  to  do  good  in 
their  own  way.  They  held  a  three-fold  band  of 
kindness  in  their  hands,  by  which  they  led  to  the 
desirable  purpose  of  mutual  advantage,  three  very 
discordant  elements,  which  were  daily  becoming 
more  difficult  to  mingle  and  to  rule;  and  which 
yet  were  the  more  dependent  on  each  other  for 
mutual  comfort,  from  the  very  causes  which  tended 
to  disunite  them. 

In  the  first  place,  the  Indians  began  to  assume 
that  unfavorable  and  uncertain  aspect,  which  it  is 
the  fate  of  man  to  wear  in  the  first  steps  of  his  prog- 
ress from  that  state  where  he  is  a  being  at  once 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       203 

warlike  and  social,  having  few  wants,  and  being  able, 
without  constant  labor  or  division  of  ranks,  to  supply 
them ;  where  there  is  no  distinction,  save  that  at- 
tained by  superior  strength  of  mind  and  body  ;  and 
where  there  are  no  laws,  but  those  dictated  by  good 
sense,  aided  by  experience,  and  enforced  by  affection, 
this  state  of  life  may  be  truly  called  the  reign  of  the 
affections :  the  love  of  kindred  and  of  country  rul- 
ing paramount,  unrivalled  by  other  passions,  all 
others  being  made  subservient  to  these.  Vanity, 
indeed,  was  in  some  degree  flattered;  for  people 
wore  ornaments,  and  were  at  no  small  pains  to  make 
them.  Pride  existed :  but  was  differently  modified 
from  what  we  see  it ;  every  man  was  proud  of  the 
prowess  and  achievements  of  his  tribe  collectively ; 
of  his  personal  virtues  he  was  not  proud,  because 
we  excel  but  by  comparison ;  and  he  rarely  saw 
instances  of  the  opposite  vices  in  his  own  nation, 
and  looked  on  others  with  unqualified  contempt. 

When  any  public  benefit  was  to  be  obtained,  or 
any  public  danger  to  be  averted,  their  mutual  efforts 
were  all  bent  to  one  end ;  and  no  one  knew  what  it 
was  to  withhold  his  utmost  aid,  nor  indeed  could 
in  that  stage  of  society  have  any  motive  for  doing 
so.  Hence,  no  mind  being  contracted  by  selfish 
cares,  the  community  were  but  as  one  large  family, 
who  enjoyed  or  suffered  together.  We  are  accus- 
tomed to  talk,  in  parrot  phrase,  of  indolent  savages ; 
and  to  be  sure,  in  warm  climates,  and  where  the 
state  of  man  is  truly  savage,  that  is  to  say,  unsocial, 


204  MEMOIRS    OF 

void  of  virtue  and  void  of  comforts,  he  is  certainly 
an  indolent  being;  but  that  individual,  in  a  cold 
climate,  who  has  tasted  the  sweets  of  social  life,  who 
knows  the  wants  that  arise  from  it,  who  provides 
for  his  children  in  their  helpless  state,  and  where 
taste  and  ingenuity  are  so  much  improved,  that  his 
person  is  not  only  clothed  with  warm  and  seemly 
apparel,  but  decorated  with  numerous  and  not  in- 
elegant ornaments ;  which  from  the  scarcity  and 
simplicity  of  his  tools,  he  has  no  ready  or  easy  mode 
of  producing :  when  he  has  not  only  found  out  all 
these  wants,  which  he  has  no  means  of  supplying 
but  by  his  individual  strength,  dexterity,  and  in- 
genuity, industry  must  be  added,  ere  they  can  be 
all  regularly  gratified.  Very  active  and  industrious, 
in  fact,  the  Indians  were  in  their  original  state ;  and 
when  we  take  it  into  consideration,  that  beside  all 
these  occupations,  together  with  their  long  journeys, 
wars  and  constant  huntings  and  fishing,  their  leisure 
was  occupied  not  only  by  athletic  but  studious 
games,  at  which  they  played  for  days  together  with 
unheard  of  eagerness  and  perseverance,  it  will  ap- 
pear they  had  very  little  of  that  lounging  time,  for 
which  we  are  so  apt  to  give  them  credit.  Or  if  a 
chief  occasionally  after  fatigue,  of  which  we  can  form 
no  adequate  idea,  lay  silent  in  the  shade,  those 
frisking  Frenchmen  who  have  given  us  most  details 
concerning  them,  were  too  restless  themselves  to 
subdue  their  skipping  spirits  to  the  recollection,  that 
a  Mohawk  had  no  study  or  arm  chair  wherein  to 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       205 

muse  and  cogitate;  and  that  his  schemes  of  patriot- 
ism, his  plans  of  war,  and  his  eloquent  speeches, 
were  all  like  the  meditations  of  Jacques,  formed 
"under  the  greenwood  tree."  Neither  could  any 
man  lounge  on  his  sofa,  while  half  a  dozen  others 
were  employed  in  shearing  the  sheep,  preparing  the 
wool,  weaving  and  making  his  coat,  or  in  planting 
the  flax  for  his  future  linen,  and  flaying  the  ox  for 
his  future  shoes ;  were  he  to  do  all  this  himself,  he 
would  have  little  leisure  for  study  or  repose.  And 
all  this  and  more  the  Indian  did,  under  other  names 
and  forms.  So  that  idleness,  with  its  gloomy  fol- 
lowers ennui  and  suicide,  were  unknown  among  this 
truly  active  people :  yet  that  there  is  a  higher  state 
of  society  cannot  be  denied ;  nor  can  it  be  denied 
that  the  intermediate  state  is  a  painful  and  enfee- 
bling one. 

Man,  in  a  state  of  nature,  is  taught  by  his  more 
civilized  brethren  a  thousand  new  wants  before  he 
learns  to  supply  one.  Thence  barter  takes  place ; 
which  in  the  first  stage  of  progression  is  universally 
fatal  to  the  liberty,  the  spirit,  and  the  comforts  of  an 
uncivilized  people. 

In  the  east,  where  the  cradle  of  our  infant  nature 
was  appointed,  the  clime  was  genial,  its  productions 
abundant,  and  its  winters  only  sufficient  to  consume 
the  surplus,  and  give  a  welcome  variety  to  the  sea- 
sons. There  man  was  either  a  shepherd  or  a  hunter, 
as  his  disposition  led ;  and  that  perhaps  in  the  same 
family.  The  meek  spirit  of  Jacob  delighted  in 


206  MEMOIRS 

tending  his  father's  flocks;  while  the  more  daring 
and  adventurous  Esau  traced  the  wilds  of  Mount 
Seir,  in  pursuit  both  of  the  fiercer  animals  who 
waged  war  upon  the  fold,  and  the  more  timorous 
who  administered  to  the  luxury  of  the  table. 

The  progress  of  civilization  was  here  gradual  and 
gentle;  and  the  elegant  arts  seem  to  have  gone 
hand  in  hand  with  the  useful  ones.  For  we  read 
of  bracelets  and  ear-rings  sent  as  tokens  of  love, 
and  images  highly  valued  and  coveted ;  while  even 
agriculture  seemed  in  its  infancy. 


Chapter  XXIV 

PROGRESS   OF   CIVILIZATION   IN  EUROPE 

PPULATION  extending  to  the  milder  regions 
>f  Europe,  brought  civilization  along  with  it ; 
so  that  it  is  only  among  the  savages  (as  we  call  our 
ancestors  of  the  north)  that  we  can  trace  the  inter- 
mediate state  I  have  spoken  of.  Amongst  them, 
one  regular  gradation  seems  to  have  taken  place  ; 
they  were  first  hunters  and  then  warriors.  As  they 
advanced  in  their  knowledge  of  the  arts  of  life,  and 
acquired  a  little  property,  as  much  of  pastoral  pur- 
suits as  their  rigorous  climate  would  allow,  without 
the  aid  of  regular  agriculture,  mingled  with  their 
wandering  habits.  But,  except  in  a  few  partial  in- 
stances, from  hunters  they  became  conquerors :  the 
warlike  habits  acquired  from  that  mode  of  life  rais- 
ing their  minds  above  patient  industry,  and  teach- 
ing them  to  despise  the  softer  arts  that  embellish 
society.  In  fine,  their  usual  process  was  to  pass  to 
civilization  through  the  medium  of  conquest.  The 
poet  says, 

"  With  noble  scorn  the  first  fam'd  Cato  viewed 
Rome  learning  arts  from  Greece  which  she  subdued." 

The  surly  censor  might  have  spared  his  scorn, 
for  doubtless  science,  and  the  arts  of  peace  were  by 


208  MEMOIRS    OF 

far  the  most  valuable  acquisitions  resulting  from 
their  conquest  of  that  polished  and  ingenious  people. 
But  when  the  savage  hunters  of  the  north  became 
too  numerous  to  subsist  on  their  deer  and  fish,  and 
too  warlike  to  dread  the  conflict  with  troops  more 
regularly  armed,  they  rushed  down,  like  a  cataract, 
on  their  enfeebled  and  voluptuous  neighbors ;  de- 
stroyed the  monuments  of  art,  and  seemed  for  a 
time  to  change  the  very  face  of  nature.  Yet  dread- 
ful as  were  the  devastations  of  this  flood,  let  forth 
by  divine  vengeance  to  punish  and  to  renovate,  it 
had  its  use  in  sweeping  away  the  hoarded  mass  of 
corruption  with  which  the  dregs  of  mankind  had 
polluted  the  earth.  It  was  an  awful,  but  a  needful 
process ;  which,  in  some  form  or  other,  is  always 
renewed  when  human  degeneracy  has  reached  its 
ultimatum.  The  destruction  of  these  feeble  beings, 
who,  lost  to  every  manly  and  virtuous  sentiment, 
crawl  about  the  rich  property  which  they  have  not 
sense  to  use  worthily,  or  spirit  to  defend  manfully, 
may  be  compared  to  the  effort  nature  makes  to  rid 
herself  of  the  noxious  brood  of  wasps  and  slugs, 
cherished  by  successive  mild  winters.  A  dreadful 
frost  comes ;  man  suffers,  and  complains ;  his  sub- 
ject animals  suffer  more,  and  all  his  works  are  for 
a  time  suspended :  but  this  salutary  infliction  puri- 
fies the  air,  meliorates  the  soil  and  destroys  millions 
of  lurking  enemies,  who  would  otherwise  have  con- 
sumed the  productions  of  the  earth,  and  deformed 
the  face  of  nature.  In  these  barbarous  irruptions, 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       209 

the  monuments  of  art,  statues,  pictures,  temples,  and 
palaces,  seem  to  be  most  lamented.  From  age  to 
age  the  virtuosi  of  every  country  have  reechoed  to 
each  other  their  feeble  plaints  over  the  lost  works 
of  art ;  as  if  that  had  been  the  heaviest  sorrow  in 
the  general  wreck ;  and  as  if  the  powers  that  pro- 
duced them  had  ceased  to  exist.  It  is  over  the 
defaced  image  of  the  divine  Author,  and  not  merely 
the  mutilated  resemblance  of  his  creatures,  that  the 
wise  and  virtuous  should  lament !  We  are  told 
that  in  Rome  there  were  as  many  statues  as  men  : 
had  all  these  lamented  statues  been  preserved  would 
the  world  be  much  wiser  or  happier?  a  sufficient 
number  remain  as  models  to  future  statuaries,  and 
memorials  of  departed  art  and  genius.  Wealth, 
directed  by  taste  and  liberality,  may  be  much  better 
employed  in  calling  forth,  by  due  encouragement, 
that  genius  which  doubtless  exists  among  our  co- 
temporaries,  than  in  paying  exorbitantly  the  vender 
of  fragments. 

"  Mind,  mind  alone,  bear  witness  earth  and  heav'n ! 
The  living  fountains  in  itself  contains 
Of  beauteous  and  sublime." 

And  what  has  mind  achieved,  that,  in  a  favorable 
conjuncture,  it  might  not  again  aspire  to  ?  The 
lost  arts  are  ever  the  theme  of  classical  lamentation ; 
but  the  great  and  real  evil  was  the  loss  of  the  virtues 
which  protected  them  ;  of  courage,  fortitude,  honor, 
and  patriotism ;  in  short,  of  the  whole  manly  char- 

VOL.  I.  —  14 


210  MEMOIRS    OF 

acter.  This  must  be  allowed,  after  the  dreadful 
tempest  of  subversion  was  over,  to  have  been  in 
some  degree  restored  in  the  days  of  chivalry :  and 
it  is  equally  certain  that  the  victors  learnt  from  the 
vanquished  many  of  the  arts  that  support  life,  and 
all  those  which  embellish  it.  When  their  manners 
were  softened  by  the  aid  of  a  mild  and  charitable 
religion,  this  blended  people  assumed  that  undefined 
power,  derived  from  superior  valor  and  superior 
wisdom,  which  has  so  far  exalted  Europe  over  all 
the  regions  of  the  earth.  Thus,  where  a  bold  and 
warlike  people  subdue  a  voluptuous  and  effeminate 
one,  the  result  is,  in  due  time,  an  improvement  of 
national  character.  In  similar  climes  and  circum- 
stances to  those  of  the  primeval  nations  in  the  other 
hemisphere,  the  case  has  been  very  different.  There, 
too,  the  hunter,  by  the  same  gradation  became  a 
warrior;  but  first  allured  by  the  friendship  which 
sought  his  protection ;  then  repelled  by  the  art  that 
coveted  and  encroached  on  his  territories  ;  and  lastly 
by  the  avarice  that  taught  him  new  wants,  and  then 
took  an  undue  advantage  of  them ;  they  neither 
wished  for  our  superfluities,  nor  envied  our  mode 
of  life;  nor  did  our  encroachments  much  disturb 
them,  as  they  receded  into  their  trackless  coverts  as 
we  approached  from  the  coast.  But  though  they 
scorned  our  refinements ;  and  though  our  govern- 
ment, and  all  the  enlightened  minds  amongst  us, 
dealt  candidly  and  generously  with  all  such  as  were 
not  set  on  by  our  enemies  to  injure  us,  the  blight 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       211 

of  European  vices,  the  mere  consequence  of  private 
greediness  and  fraud,  proved  fatal  to  our  very 
friends.  As  I  formerly  observed,  the  nature  of  the 
climate  did  not  admit  of  the  warriors  passing  through 
the  medium  of  a  shepherd's  life  to  the  toils  of  agri- 
culture. The  climate,  though  extremely  warm  in 
summer,  was  so  severe  in  winter,  and  that  winter 
was  so  long,  that  it  required  no  little  labor  to  secure 
the  food  for  the  animals  which  were  to  be  main- 
tained; and  no  small  expense  in  that  country  to 
procure  the  implements  necessary  for  the  purpose 
of  agriculture.  In  other  countries,  when  a  poor 
man  has  not  wherewithal  to  begin  farming,  he 
serves  another ;  and  the  reward  of  his  toil  enables 
him  to  set  up  for  himself.  No  such  resource  was 
open  to  the  Indians,  had  they  even  inclined  to 
adopt  our  modes.  No  Indian  ever  served  another, 
or  received  assistance  from  any  one  except  his  own 
family.  'T  is  inconceivable,  too,  what  a  different 
kind  of  exertion  of  strength  it  requires  to  cultivate 
the  ground,  and  to  endure  the  fatigues  of  the  chase, 
long  journeys,  etc.  To  all  that  induces  us  to  labor 
they  were  indifferent.  When  a  governor  of  New 
York  was  describing  to  an  Indian  the  advantages 
that  some  one  would  derive  from  such  and  such 
possessions ;  "  Why,"  said  he,  with  evident  sur- 
prise, "  should  any  man  desire  to  possess  more  than 
he  uses  ?  "  More  appeared  to  his  untutored  sense 
an  incumbrance. 

I  have  already  observed  how  much  happier  they 


212  MEMOIRS    OF 

considered  their  manner  of  living  than  ours ;  yet 
their  intercourse  with  us  daily  diminished  their  inde- 
pendence, their  happiness,  and  even  their  numbers. 
In  the  new  world  this  fatality  has  never  failed  to 
follow  the  introduction  of  European  settlers ;  who, 
instead  of  civilizing  and  improving,  slowly  consume 
and  waste ;  where  they  do  not,  like  the  Spaniards, 
absolutely  destroy  and  exterminate  the  natives. 
The  very  nature  of  even  our  most  friendly  mode 
of  dealing  with  them  was  pernicious  to  their  moral 
welfare;  which,  though  too  late,  they  well  under- 
stood, and  could  as  well  explain.  Untutored  man, 
in  beginning  to  depart  from  that  life  of  exigencies, 
in  which  the  superior  acuteness  of  his  senses,  his 
fleetness  and  dexterity  in  the  chase,  are  his  chief 
dependence,  loses  so  much  of  all  this  before  he  can 
become  accustomed  to,  or  qualified  for  our  mode 
of  procuring  food  by  patient  labor,  that  nothing 
can  be  conceived  more  enfeebled  and  forlorn  than 
the  state  of  the  few  detached  families  remaining 
of  vanished  tribes,  who  having  lost  their  energy, 
and  even  the  wish  to  live  in  their  own  manner, 
were  slowly  and  reluctantly  beginning  to  adopt 
ours.  It  was  like  that  suspension  of  life  which 
takes  place  in  the  chrysalis  of  insects,  while  in 
their  progress  towards  a  new  state  of  being.  Alas  ! 
the  indolence  with  which  we  reproach  them,  was 
merely  the  consequence  of  their  commercial  inter- 
course with  us ;  and  the  fatal  passion  for  strong 
liquors  which  resulted  from  it.  As  the  fabled 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        213 

enchanter,  by  waving  his  magic  wand,  chains  up 
at  once  the  faculties  of  his  opponents,  and  renders 
strength  and  courage  useless ;  the  most  wretched 
and  sordid  trader,  possessed  of  this  master-key 
to  the  appetites  and  passions  of  these  hard-fated 
people,  could  disarm  those  he  dealt  with  of  all 
their  resources,  and  render  them  dependent  —  nay 
dependent  on  those  they  scorned  and  hated.  The 
process  was  simple ;  first,  the  power  of  sending,  by 
mimic  thunder,  an  unseen  death  to  a  distant  foe, 
which  filled  the  softer  inhabitants  of  the  southern 
regions  with  so  much  terror,  was  here  merely  an 
object  of  desire  and  emulation ;  and  so  eagerly 
did  they  adopt  the  use  of  fire-arms,  that  they 
soon  became  less  expert  in  using  their  own  missile 
weapons.  They  could  still  throw  the  tomahawk 
with  such  an  unerring  aim,  that,  though  it  went 
circling  through  the  air  towards  its  object,  it  never 
failed  to  reach  it.  But  the  arrows,  on  which  they 
had  formerly  so  much  depended,  were  now  con- 
sidered merely  as  the  weapons  of  boys,  and  only 
directed  against  birds. 

Thus  was  one  strong  link  forged  in  the  chain 
of  dependence ;  next,  liquor  became  a  necessity, 
and  its  fatal  effects  who  can  detail  !  But  to  make 
it  still  clearer,  I  have  mentioned  the  passion  for 
dress,  in  which  all  the  pride  and  vanity  of  this 
people  were  centred.  In  former  days  this  had  the 
best  effect,  in  being  a  stimulus  to  industry.  The 
provision  requisite  for  making  a  splendid  appear- 


2i4  MEMOIRS    OF 

ance  at  the  winter  meetings  for  hunting  and  the 
national  congress,  occupied  the  leisure  hours  of  the 
whole  summer.  The  beaver  skins  of  the  last  year's 
hunting  were  to  be  accurately  dressed,  and  sewed 
together,  to  form  that  mantle  which  was  as  much 
valued,  and  as  necessary  to  their  consequence,  as 
the  pelice  of  sables  to  that  of  an  eastern  bashaw. 
A  deer  skin,  or  that  of  a  bear,  or  beaver,  had  their 
stated  price.  The  boldest  and  most  expert  hunter 
had  most  of  these  commodities  to  spare,  and  was 
therefore  most  splendidly  arrayed.  If  he  had  a 
rival,  it  was  in  him  whose  dexterous  ingenuity  in 
fabricating  the  materials  of  which  his  own  dress 
was  composed,  enabled  him  to  vie  with  the  hero 
of  the  chase. 

Thus  superior  elegance  in  dress  was  not,  as  with 
us,  the  distinction  of  the  luxurious  and  effeminate, 
but  the  privilege  and  reward  of  superior  courage 
and  industry ;  and  became  an  object  worthy  of 
competition.  Thus  employed,  and  thus  adorned, 
the  sachem  or  his  friends  found  little  time  to  in- 
dulge the  stupid  indolence  we  have  been  accus- 
tomed to  impute  to  them. 

Another  arduous  task  remains  uncalculated : 
before  they  became  dependent  on  us  for  the  means 
of  destruction,  much  time  was  consumed  in  form- 
ing their  weapons ;  in  the  construction  of  which 
no  less  patience  and  ingenuity  were  exercised  than 
in  that  of  their  ornaments :  and  those  too  were 
highly  embellished,  and  made  with  great  labor  out 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       215 

of  flints,  pebbles  and  shells.  But  all  this  system 
of  employment  was  soon  overturned  by  their  late 
acquaintance  with  the  insidious  arts  of  Europe ; 
to  the  use  of  whose  manufactures  they  were  insen- 
sibly drawn  in,  first  by  their  passion  for  fire-arms, 
and  finally  by  their  fatal  appetite  for  liquor.  To 
make  this  more  clear,  I  shall  insert  a  dialogue,  such 
as,  if  not  literally,  at  least  in  substance,  might  pass 
betwixt  an  Indian  warrior  and  a  trader. 


Chapter  XXV 


INDEPENDENCE   OF  THE  INDIANS   HOW 
FIRST  DIMINISHED 

/NDIAN.  —  Brother,  I  am  come  to  trade  with 
you ;  but  I  forewarn  you  to  be  more  moderate 
in  your  demands  than  formerly. 

Trader.  —  Why,  brother,  are  not  my  goods  of 
equal  value  with  those  you  had  last  year? 

Indian.  —  Perhaps  they  may;  but  mine  are  more 
valuable  because  more  scarce.  The  great  spirit  who 
has  withheld  from  you  strength  and  ability  to  pro- 
vide food  and  clothing  for  yourselves,  has  given 
you  cunning  and  art  to  make  guns  and  provide 
scaura ; l  and  by  speaking  smooth  words  to  simple 
men,  when  they  have  swallowed  madness,  you  have 
by  little  and  little  purchased  their  hunting  grounds, 
and  made  them  corn  lands.  Thus  the  beavers  grow 
more  scarce,  and  deer  flies  farther  back  ;  yet  after  I 
have  reserved  skins  for  my  mantle,  and  the  clothing 
of  my  wife,  I  will  exchange  the  rest. 

Trader.  —  Be  it  so,  brother  :  I  came  not  to  wrong 
you,  or  take  your  furs  against  your  will.  It  is  true 
the  beavers  are  few,  and  you  go  further  for  them. 
Come,  brother,  let  us  deal  fair  first,  and  smoke 

1  Scaura  is  the  Indian  name  for  rum.  —  Mrs.  Grant, 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       217 

friendly  afterwards.  Your  last  gun  cost  fifty  beaver 
skins  ;  you  shall  have  this  for  forty ;  and  you  shall 
give  marten  and  racoon  skins  in  the  same  propor- 
tion for  powder  and  shot. 

Indian.  —  Well,  brother,  that  is  equal.  Now  for 
two  silver  bracelets,  with  long  pendant  ear-rings  of 
the  same,  such  as  you  sold  to  Cardarani  in  the  stur- 
geon l  month  last  year,  how  much  will  you  demand  ? 

Trader.  —  The  skins  of  two  deer  for  the  brace- 
lets, and  those  of  two  fawns  for  the  ear-rings. 

Indian.  —  That  is  a  great  deal ;  but  wampum 
grows  scarce,  arid  silver  never  rusts.  Here  are  the 
skins. 

Trader.  —  Do  you  buy  any  more  ?  Here  are 
knives,  hatchets,  and  beads  of  all  colors. 

Indian.  —  I  will  have  a  knife  and  a  hatchet ;  but 
must  not  take  more ;  the  rest  of  the  skins  will  be 
little  enough  to  clothe  the  women  and  children,  and 
buy  wampum.  Your  beads  are  of  no  value,  no 
warrior  who  has  slain  a  wolf  will  wear  them.2 

Trader.  —  Here  are  many  things  good  for  you, 
which  you  have  not  skins  to  buy ;  here  is  a  looking- 
glass,  and  here  is  a  brass  kettle,  in  which  your 

1  The  Indians  appropriate  a  month  to  catch  fish  or  animals,  which 
is  at  that  time  the  predominant  object  of  pursuit  ;  as  the  bear  month, 
the  beaver  month,  etc.  —  Mrs.  Grant. 

3  Indians  have  a  great  contempt,  comparatively,  for  the  beads  we 
send  them  ;  which  they  consider  as  only  fit  for  those  plebeians  who 
cannot  by  their  exertions  win  any  better.  They  estimate  them  com- 
pared with  their  own  wampum,  as  we  do  pearls  compared  with  paste.  — • 
Mrs.  Grant. 


2i8  MEMOIRS    OF 

woman  may  boil  her  maize,  her  beans,  and  above 
all  her  maple  sugar.  Here  are  silver  broaches,  and 
here  are  pistols  for  the  youths. 

Indian.  —  The  skins  I  can  spare  will  not  purchase 
them. 

Trader. — Your  will  determines,  brother;  but 
next  year  you  will  want  nothing  but  powder  and 
shot,  having  already  purchased  your  gun  and  orna- 
ments. If  you  will  purchase  from  me  a  blanket  to 
wrap  round  you,  a  shirt  and  blue  stroud  for  under 
garments  to  yourself  and  your  woman ;  and  the 
same  for  leggings,  this  will  pass  the  time,  and  save 
you  the  great  labor  of  dressing  the  skins,  making 
the  thread,  etc.,  for  your  clothing ;  which  will  give 
you  more  fishing  and  shooting  time,  in  the  sturgeon 
and  bear  months. 

Indian.  —  But  the  custom  of  my  fathers  ! 

Trader.  —  You  will  not  break  the  custom  of  your 
fathers,  by  being  thus  clad  for  a  single  year.  They 
did  not  refuse  those  things  which  were  never  offered 
to  them. 

Indian.  —  For  this  year,  brother,  I  will  exchange 
my  skins ;  in  the  next  I  shall  provide  apparel  more 
befitting  a  warrior.  One  pack  alone  I  will  reserve 
to  dress  for  a  future  occasion.  The  summer  must 
not  find  a  warrior  idle. 

The  terms  being  adjusted  and  the  bargain  con- 
cluded, the  trader  thus  shows  his  gratitude  for 
liberal  dealing. 

Trader.  —  Corker  has  forbid  bringing  scaura  to 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       219 

steal  away  the  wisdom  of  the  warriors  ;  but  we  white 
men  are  weak  and  cold ;  we  bring  kegs  for  ourselves, 
lest  death  arise  from  the  swamps.  We  will  not  sell 
scaura ;  but  you  shall  taste  some  of  ours  in  return 
for  the  venison  with  which  you  have  feasted  us. 

Indian.  —  Brother,  we  will  drink  moderately. 

A  bottle  was  then  given  to  the  warrior  by  way  of 
present,  which  he  was  advised  to  keep  long;  but 
found  it  irresistible.  He  soon  returned  with  the 
reserved  pack  of  skins,  earnestly  urging  the  trader 
to  give  him  beads,  silver  broaches,  and  above  all 
scaura,  to  their  full  amount.  This,  with  much 
affected  reluctance  at  parting  with  the  private  stock, 
was  at  last  yielded.  The  warriors  now,  after  giv- 
ing loose  for  a  while  to  frantic  mirth,  began  the 
war-whoop,  made  the  woods  resound  with  infu- 
riate howlings ;  and  having  exhausted  their  dear 
bought  draught,  probably  determined,  in  contempt 
of  that  probity  which  at  all  other  times  they  rigidly 
observed,  to  plunder  the  instrument  of  their  per- 
nicious gratification.  He,  well  aware  of  the  con- 
sequences, took  care  to  remove  himself  and  his 
goods  to  some  other  place ;  and  a  renewal  of  the 
same  scene  ensued.  Where,  all  this  time,  were 
the  women,  whose  gentle  counsels  might  have  pre- 
vented these  excesses  ?  Alas  !  unrestrained  by  that 
delicacy  which  is  certainly  one  of  the  best  fruits  of 
refinement,  they  shared  in  them,  and  sunk  sooner 
under  them.  A  long  and  deep  sleep  generally  suc- 
ceeded; from  which  they  awoke  in  a  state  of  dejec- 


220  MEMOIRS    OF 

tion  and  chagrin,  such  as  no  Indian  had  ever 
experienced  under  any  other  circumstance.  They 
felt  as  Milton  describes  Adam  and  Eve  to  have 
done  after  their  transgression.  Exhausted  and  for- 
lorn, and  stung  with  the  consciousness  of  error  and 
dependence,  they  had  neither  the  means  nor  the 
desire  of  exercising  their  wonted  summer  occupa- 
tions with  spirit.  Vacancy  produced  languor,  and 
languor  made  them  again  wish  for  the  potion  which 
gave  temporary  cheerfulness.1  They  carried  their 
fish  to  the  next  fort  or  habitation  to  barter  for  rum. 
This  brought  on  days  of  frenzy,  succeeded  by  tor- 
por. When  again  roused  by  want  to  exertion,  they 
saw  the  season  passing  without  the  usual  provision ; 
and  by  an  effort  of  persevering  industry,  tried  to 
make  up  for  past  negligence ;  and  then,  worn  out 
by  exertion,  sunk  into  supine  indolence,  till  the 
approach  of  winter  called  them  to  hunt  the  bear ; 
and  the  arrival  of  that  (their  busy  season),  urged  on 
their  distant  excursions  in  pursuit  of  deer.  Then 
they  resumed  their  wonted  character,  and  became 
what  they  used  to  be ;  but  conscious  that  acquired 
tastes  and  wants,  which  they  had  lost  the  habit  of 
supplying  themselves,  would  throw  them  again  on 
the  traders  for  clothing,  etc.,  they  were  themselves 
out-straining  every  sinew  to  procure  enough  of  pel- 
try to  answer  their  purpose,  and  to  gratify  their 
newly  acquired  appetites.  Thus  the  energy,  both 

1  From  Peter  Schuyler,  brother  to  the  colonel,  I  have  heard  many 
such  details.  —  Mrs.  Grant. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       221 

of  their  characters  and  constitutions,  was  gradually 
undermined ;  and  their  numbers  as  effectually 
diminished,  as  if  they  had  been  wasted  by  war. 

The  small-pox  was  also  so  fatal  to  them,  that 
whole  tribes  on  the  upper  lakes  have  been  entirely 
extinguished  by  it.  Those  people  being  in  the 
habit  of  using  all  possible  means  of  closing  the 
pores  of  the  skin,  by  painting  and  anointing  them- 
selves with  bears'  grease,  to  defend  them  against  the 
extremity  of  cold,  to  which  their  manner  of  life  ex- 
posed them ;  and  not  being  habitually  subject  to 
any  cutaneous  disease,  the  small-pox  rarely  rises 
upon  them  ;  from  which  it  may  be  understood  how 
little  chance  they  had  of  recovering.  All  this  I 
heard  Aunt  Schuyler  relate,  whose  observations  and 
reflections  I  merely  detail. 


Chapter  XXVI 

ATTRACTIONS   OF    THE  INDIAN   MODE    OF   LIFE 
—  ACCOUNT   OF  A   SETTLER  AMONG  THEM 

IN   this   wild   liberty,  habits  of  probity,   mutual 
confidence,  and  constant  variety,  there  was  an 
undefinable  charm,  that,  while  they  preserved  their 
primitive  manners,  wrought  in  every  one  who  dwelt 
for  any  time  amongst  them. 

I  have  often  heard  my  friend  speak  of  an  old 
man,  who,  being  carried  away  in  his  infancy  by 
some  hostile  tribe  who  had  slain  his  parents,  was 
rescued  very  soon  after  by  a  tribe  of  friendly  In- 
dians, who,  from  motives  of  humanity,  resolved 
to  bring  him  up  among  themselves,  that  he  might, 
in  their  phrase,  "  learn  to  bend  the  bow,  and  speak 
truth."  When  it  was  discovered,  some  years  after, 
that  he  was  still  living,  his  relations  claimed  him ; 
and  the  community  wished  him  to  return  and  in- 
herit his  father's  lands,  now  become  more  considera- 
ble. The  Indians  were  unwilling  to  part  with  their 
protege ;  and  he  was  still  more  reluctant  to  return. 
This  was  considered  as  a  bad  precedent ;  the  early 
settlers  having  found  it  convenient  in  several  things 
regarding  hunting,  food,  etc.,  to  assimilate,  in  some 
degree,  with  the  Indians  ;  and  the  young  men  occa- 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       223 

sionally,  at  that  early  period,  joining  their  hunting 
and  fishing  parties.  It  was  considered  as  a  matter 
of  serious  import  to  reclaim  this  young  alien ;  lest 
others  should  be  lost  to  the  community  and  to  their 
religion  by  following  his  example.  With  difficulty 
they  forced  him  home;  where  they  never  could 
have  detained  him,  had  they  not  carefully  and  grad- 
ually inculcated  into  his  mind  the  truths  of  Chris- 
tianity. To  those  instructions  even  his  Indian 
predilections  taught  him  to  listen;  for  it  was  the 
religion  of  his  fathers,  and  venerable  to  him  as  such: 
still,  however,  his  dislike  of  our  manners  was  never 
entirely  conquered,  nor  was  his  attachment  to  his 
foster  fathers  ever  much  diminished.  He  was  pos- 
sessed of  a  very  sound  intellect,  and  used  to  declaim 
with  the  most  vehement  eloquence  against  our  crafty 
and  insidious  encroachments  on  our  old  friends. 
His  abhorrence  of  the  petty  falsehoods  to  which 
custom  has  too  well  reconciled  us,  and  those  little 
artifices  which  we  all  occasionally  practise,  rose  to 
a  height  fully  equal  to  that  felt  by  Gulliver.  Swift 
and  this  other  misanthrope,  though  they  lived  at 
the  same  time,  could  not  have  had  any  intercourse, 
else  one  might  have  supposed  the  invectives  which 
he  has  put  into  the  mouth  of  Gulliver,  were  bor- 
rowed from  this  demi-savage  ;  whose  contempt  and 
hatred  of  selfishness,  meanness,  and  duplicity,  were 
expressed  in  language  worthy  of  the  dean.  Inso- 
much, that  years  after  I  had  heard  of  this  singular 
character,  I  thought,  on  reading  Gulliver's  asperities 


224  MEMOIRS    OF 

after  returning  from  Houyhnhnmland,  that  1  had 
met  my  old  friend  again.  One  really  does  meet 
with  characters  that  fiction  would  seem  too  bold  in 
portraying.  This  original  had  an  aversion  to  liquor, 
which  amounted  to  abhorrence;  being  embittered 
by  his  regret  at  the  mischief  resulting  from  it  to  his 
old  friends,  and  rage  at  the  traders  for  administering 
the  means  of  depravity.  He  never  could  bear  any 
seasoning  to  his  food  ;  and  despised  luxury  in  all 
its  forms. 

For  all  the  growing  evils  I  have  been  describing, 
there  was  only  one  remedy,  which  the  sagacity  of 
my  friend  and  her  other  self  soon  discovered ;  and 
their  humanity  as  well  as  principle  led  them  to  try 
all  possible  means  of  administering.  It  was  the 
pure  light  and  genial  influence  of  Christianity  alone 
that  could  cheer  and  ameliorate  the  state  of  these 
people,  now,  from  a  concurrence  of  circumstances 
scarcely  to  be  avoided  in  the  nature  of  things,  de- 
prived of  the  independence  habitual  to  their  own 
way  of  life,  without  acquiring  in  its  room  any  of 
those  comforts  which  sweeten  ours.  By  gradually 
and  gently  unfolding  to  them  the  views  of  a  happy 
futurity,  and  the  means  by  which  depraved  humanity 
was  restored  to  a  participation  of  that  blessing ;  pride, 
revenge,  and  the  indulgence  of  every  excess  of  pas- 
sion or  appetite  being  restrained  by  the  precepts  of 
a  religion  ever  powerful  where  it  is  sincere ;  their 
spirits  would  be  brought  down  from  the  fierce  pride 
which  despises  improvement  to  adopt  such  of  our 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       225 

modes,  as  would  enable  them  to  incorporate  in  time 
with  our  society,  and  procure  for  themselves  a  com- 
fortable subsistence,  in  a  country  no  longer  adapted 
to  supply  the  wants  of  the  houseless  rangers  of  the 
forest. 

The  narrow  policy  of  many  looked  coldly  on  this 
benevolent  project.  Hunters  supplied  the  means 
of  commerce,  and  warriors  those  of  defence  ;  and  it 
was  questionable  whether  a  Christian  Indian  would 
hunt  or  fight  as  well  as  formerly.  This,  however, 
had  no  power  with  those  in  whom  Christianity  was 
any  thing  more  than  a  name.  There  were  already 
many  Christian  Indians;  and  it  was  very  encourag- 
ing, that  not  one,  once  converted,  had  ever  forsaken 
the  strict  profession  of  their  religion,  or  ever,  in  a 
single  instance,  abandoned  themselves  to  the  ex- 
cesses so  pernicious  to  their  unconverted  brethren. 
Never  was  the  true  spirit  of  Christianity  more  ex- 
emplified than  in  the  lives  of  those  comparatively 
few  converts,  who  about  this  time  amounted  to 
more  than  two  hundred.  But  the  tender  care  and 
example  of  the  Schuylers  cooperating  with  the  inces- 
sant labors  of  a  judicious  and  truly  apostolic  mis- 
sionary, some  years  after  greatly  argumented  their 
numbers  in  different  parts  of  the  continent :  and  to 
this  day,  the  memory  of  David  Brainard,  the  faith- 
ful laborer  alluded  to,  is  held  in  veneration  in  those 
districts  that  were  blessed  with  his  ministry.  He 
did  not  confine  it  to  one  people  or  province,  but 
travelled  from  place  to  place  to  disseminate  the  gos- 

VOL.  I.  — IS 


226  MEMOIRS    OF 

pel  to  new  converts,  and  confirm  and  cherish  the 
truth  already  planted.  The  first  foundation  of  that 
church  had,  however,  as  I  formerly  mentioned, 
been  laid  long  ago  :  and  the  examples  of  piety, 
probity,  and  benevolence  set  by  the  worthies  at  the 
Flats,  and  a  few  more,  were  a  very  necessary  com- 
ment on  the  doctrines  to  which  their  assent  was 
desired. 

The  great  stumbling  block  which  the  mission- 
aries had  to  encounter  with  the  Indians  (who,  as  far 
as  their  knowledge  went,  argued  with  great  acute- 
ness  and  logical  precision),  was  the  small  influence 
which  our  religion  seemed  to  have  over  many  of  its 
professors.  "  Why,"  said  they,  "  if  the  book  of 
truth,  that  shows  the  way  to  happiness,  and  bids 
all  men  do  justice,  and  love  one  another,  is  given 
both  to  Corlaer  and  Onnonthio,1  does  it  not  direct 
them  both  in  the  same  way  ?  Why  does  Onnonthio 
worship,  and  Corlaer  neglect,  the  mother  of  the 
blessed  one  ?  And  why  do  the  missionaries  blame 
those  for  worshiping  things  made  with  hands,  while 
the  priests  tell  the  praying  nation,2  that  Corlaer  and 
his  people  have  forsaken  the  worship  of  his  fore- 
fathers :  besides,  how  can  people,  who  believe  that 
God  and  good  spirits  view  and  take  an  interest  in 


1  Corlaer  was  the  title  given  by  them  to  the  governor  of  New 
York  ;  and  was  figuratively  used  for  the  governed,  and  Onnonthio  for 
those  of  Canada,  in  the  same  manner.  —  Mrs.  Grant. 

2  Praying  nation  was  a  name  given  to  a  village  of  Indians  near 
Montreal,  who  professed  the  Roman  catholic  faith.  —  Mrs.   Grant. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       227 

all  their  actions,  cheat  and  dissemble,  drink  and 
fight,  quarrel  and  backbite,  if  they  believe  the  great 
fire  burns  for  those  who  do  such  things  ?  If  we 
believed  what  you  say,  we  should  not  exchange  so 
much  good  for  wickedness,  to  please  an  evil  spirit 
who  would  rejoice  at  our  destruction."  ....  To 
this  reasoning  it  was  not  easy  to  oppose  any  thing 
that  would  carry  conviction  to  untutored  people, 
who  spoke  from  observation  and  the  evidence  of 
the  senses ;  to  which  could  only  be  opposed  scrip- 
ture texts,  which  avail  not  till  they  are  believed ; 
and  abstract  reasoning,  extremely  difficult  to  bring  to 
the  level  of  an  unlearned  understanding.  Great 
labor  and  perseverance  wrought  on  the  minds  of  a 
few,  who  felt  conviction,  as  far  as  it  is  to  be  ascribed 
to  human  agency,  flow  from  the  affectionate  per- 
suasions of  those  whom  they  visibly  beheld  earnest 
for  their  eternal  welfare ;  and  when  a  few  had  thus 
yielded,1  the  peace  and  purity  of  their  lives,  and  the 
sublime  enjoyment  they  seemed  to  derive  from  the 
prospects  their  faith  opened  into  futurity,  was  an 
inducement  to  others  to  follow  the  same  path. 

1  Some  of  them  have  made  such  a  proficiency  in  practical  religion 
as  ought  to  shame  many  of  us,  who  boast  the  illuminating  aids  of  our 
native  Christianity.  Not  one  of  these  Indians  has  been  concerned  in 
those  barbarous  eruptions  which  deluged  the  frontiers  of  our  south- 
western provinces  with  the  blood  of  so  many  innocents,  of  every  age 
and  sex.  At  the  commencement  of  these  ravages,  they  flew  into  the 
settlements,  and  put  themselves  into  the  protection  of  government. 
The  Indians  no  sooner  became  Christians,  than  they  openly  professed 
their  loyalty  to  King  George  ;  and  therefore,  to  contribute  to  their 
conversion  was  as  truly  politic  as  nobly  Christian.  —  Mrs.  Grant. 


228  MEMOIRS 

This,  abstractedly  from  religious  considerations  of 
endless  futurity,  is  the  true  and  only  way  to  civiliza- 
tion ;  and  to  the  blending  together  the  old  and 
new  inhabitants  of  these  regions.  National  pride, 
rooted  prejudices,  ferocity  and  vindictive  hatred,  all 
yield  before  a  change  that  new-moulds  the  whole 
soul,  and  furnishes  men  with  new  fears  and  hopes, 
and  new  motives  for  action. 


Chapter  XXVII 


INDIANS  ATTACHED  BY  CONVERSION  —  EXPEDI- 
TION OF  MONS.  BARRE  —  IRONICAL  SKETCH 
OF  AN  INDIAN 

UPON  the  attachment  the  Indians  had  to  our 
religion  was  grafted  the  strongest  regard  to 
our  government,  and  the  greatest  fidelity  to  the 
treaties  made  with  us.  I  shall  insert  a  specimen 
of  Indian  eloquence,  illustrative  of  this  last;  not 
that  I  consider  it  by  any  means  so  rich,  impressive, 
or  sublime  as  many  others  that  I  could  quote,  but 
as  containing  a  figure  of  speech  rarely  to  be  met 
with  among  savage  people,  and  supposed  by  us 
incompatible  with  the  state  of  intellectual  advance- 
ment to  which  they  have  attained.  I  mean  a  fine 
and  well  supported  irony.  About  the  year  1696* 
Mons.  Barre,  the  commander  of  the  French  forces 
in  Canada,  made  a  kind  of  inroad,  with  a  warlike 

1  De  la  Barre  made  an  attempt  to  invade  the  Seneca  country  in 
1684.  He  crossed  Lake  Ontario  from  Fort  Frontenac  (Kingston)  and 
landed  in  the  country  of  the  Onondagas,  some  distance  east  of  Oswego. 
The  Indian  sachems  visited  him,  and  after  seeing  his  hopeless  condi- 
tion with  an  army  wasted  and  dying,  they  made  him  an  ironical 
speech,  as  seen  on  page  154.  He  was  recalled  the  following  year. 
In  1696  the  Count  de  Frontenac  made  war  on  the  Onondaga  nation, 
and  destroyed  their  village. 


230  MEMOIRS    OF 

design,  into  the  precincts  claimed  by  our  Mohawk 
allies ;  the  march  was  tedious,  the  French  fell  sick, 
and  many  of  their  Indians  deserted  them.  The 
wily  commander,  rinding  himself  unequal  to  the 
meditated  attack,  and  that  it  would  be  unsafe  to 
return  through  the  lakes  and  woods,  while  in  hourly 
danger  of  meeting  enemies  so  justly  provoked,  sent 
to  invite  the  sachems  to  a  friendly  conference  :  and, 
when  they  met,  asserted,  in  an  artful  speech,  that 
he  and  his  troops  had  come  with  the  sole  intention 
of  settling  old  grievances,  and  smoking  the  calumet 
of  peace  with  them.  The  Indians,  not  imposed  on 
by  such  pretences,  listened  patiently  to  his  speech, 
and  then  made  the  answer  which  the  reader  will 
find  in  the  notes.1  It  is  to  be  observed,  that  who- 

1  "  Onnonthio,  I  honor  you ;  and  all  the  warriors  that  are  with  me 
likewise  honor  you.  Your  interpreter  has  finished  his  speech,  I  begin 
mine.  My  words  make  haste  to  reach  your  ears  ;  hearken  to  them, 
Yonnondio.  You  must  have  believed,  when  you  left  Quebec,  that  the 
sun  had  burnt  up  all  the  forests  which  made  our  country  so  inaccessible 
to  the  French  5  or  that  the  lakes  had  so  far  overflowed  their  banks, 
that  they  had  surrounded  our  castles,  and  that  it  was  impossible  for 
us  to  get  out  of  them.  Yes,  Yonnondio,  surely  you  have  dreamt  so  ; 
and  the  curiosity  of  seeing  so  great  a  wonder  has  brought  you  so  far. 
Now  you  are  undeceived,  since  I  and  the  warriors  here  present  are 
come  to  assure  you,  that  the  Hurons,  Onondagoes,  and  Mohawks  are 
yet  alive.  I  thank  you  in  their  name  for  bringing  back  into  their 
country  the  calrmet,  which  your  predecessor  received  from  their  hands. 
It  was  happy  for  you  that  you  left  under  ground  that  murdering 
hatchet,  which  has  been  so  often  dyed  with  the  blood  of  the  French. 
Hear,  Onnonthio,  I  do  not  sleep  ;  I  have  my  eyes  open  ;  and  the  sun 
that  enlightens  me  discovers  to  me  a  great  captain,  at  the  head  of  his 
soldiers,  who  speaks  as  if  he  were  dreaming.  He  says  that  he  only 
came  to  the  lake  to  smoke  out  of  the  great  calumet  with  the  Five 
Nations  ;  but  Connaratego  says  that  he  sees  the  contrary  j  that  it  was 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       231 

ever  they  considered  as  the  ruling  person  for  the 
time  being  in  Canada,  they  styled  Onnonthio ; 

to  knock  them  on  the  head,  if  sickness  had  not  weakened  the  arms  of 
the  French.  I  see  Onnonthio  raving  in  a  camp  of  sick  men,  whose 
lives  the  great  spirit  has  saved  by  inflicting  this  sickness  upon  them. 
Hear,  Onnonthio,  our  women  had  taken  their  clubs  j  our  children  and 
old  men  had  carried  their  bows  and  arrows  into  the  heart  of  your  camp, 
if  our  warriors  had  not  disarmed  them,  and  kept  them  back,  when 
your  messenger  came  to  our  castles.  It  is  done,  and  I  have  said  it. 
Hear,  Yonnondio,  we  plundered  none  of  the  French,  but  those  who 
carried  guns,  powder,  and  ball  to  the  wolf  and  elk  tribes,  because  those 
arms  might  have  cost  us  our  lives.  Herein  we  follow  the  example  of 
the  Jesuits,  who  stave  all  the  kegs  of  rum  brought  to  the  castles  where 
they  are,  lest  the  drunken  Indians  should  knock  them  on  the  head. 
Our  warriors  have  not  beavers  enough  to  pay  for  all  those  arms  that 
they  have  taken  ;  and  our  old  men  are  not  afraid  of  the  war.  This 
belt  preserves  my  words.  We  carried  the  English  into  our  lakes,  to 
trade  with  the  wolf  and  elk  tribes,  as  the  praying  Indians  brought 
the  French  to  our  castles,  to  carry  on  a  trade,  which  the  English  say 
is  theirs.  We  are  born  free.  We  neither  depend  on  Onnonthio  nor 
Corlaer  ;  we  may  go  where  we  please.  If  your  allies  be  your  slaves, 
use  them  as  such  ;  command  them  to  receive  no  other  but  your  people. 
This  belt  preserves  my  words.  We  knocked  the  Connecticut  Indians 
and  their  confederates  on  the  head  because  they  had  cut  down  the 
trees  of  peace,  which  were  the  limits  of  our  country.  They  had  hunted 
beavers  on  our  lands,  contrary  to  the  customs  of  all  Indians,  for  they 
have  left  none  alive.  They  have  killed  both  male  and  female.  They 
brought  the  Sathanas  into  our  country  to  take  part  with  them,  after 
they  had  formed  ill  designs  against  us  ;  we  have  done  less  than  they 
merited. 

"  Hear,  once  more,  the  words  of  the  Five  Nations.  They  say  that 
when  they  buried  the  hatchet  at  Cardaraqui  (in  the  presence  of  your 
predecessor),  in  the  middle  of  the  fort  [Detroit],  they  planted  the  tree 
of  peace  in  the  same  place,  to  be  there  carefully  preserved  ;  that  in- 
stead of  an  abode  for  soldiers,  that  fort  might  be  a  rendezvous  for 
merchants  ;  that  in  place  of  arms  and  ammunition,  only  peltry  and 
goods  should  enter  there. 

"  Hear,  Yonnondio,  take  care  for  the  future  that  so  great  a  number 
of  soldiers  as  appear  there  do  not  choke  the  tree  of  peace,  planted  in  so 
small  a  fort.  It  will  be  a  great  loss  after  having  so  easily  taken  root, 


232  MEMOIRS    OF 

while  the  governor  of  New  York  they  always  called 
Corlaer. 

Twice  in  the  year  the  new  converts  came  to 
Albany  to  partake  of  the  sacrament,  before  a  place 
of  worship  was  erected  for  themselves.  They  always 
spent  the  night,  or  oftener  two  nights,  before  their 
joining  in  this  holy  rite  at  the  Flats :  which  was 
their  general  rendezvous  from  different  quarters. 
There  they  were  cordially  received  by  the  three 
brothers,  who  always  met  together  at  this  time  to 
have  a  conference  with  them  on  subjects  the  most 

if  you  should  stop  its  growth,  and  prevent  its  covering  your  country 
and  ours  with  its  branches.  I  assure  you,  in  the  name  of  the  Five 
Nations,  that  our  warriors  shall  dance  to  the  calumet  of  peace  under 
its  leaves,  and  shall  remain  quiet  on  their  mats  ;  and  that  they  shall 
never  dig  up  the  hatchet  till  Corlaer  or  Onnonthio,  either  jointly  or 
separately  attack  the  country  which  the  great  spirit  had  given  to  our 
ancestors.  This  belt  preserves  my  words,  and  this  other  the  authority 
which  the  Five  Nations  have  given  me."  Then,  Garangula,  addressing 
himself  to  Mons.  de  Main,  who  understood  his  language,  and  inter- 
preted, spoke  thus  :  "  Take  courage,  friend,  you  have  spirits  ;  speak, 
explain  my  words,  omit  nothing.  Tell  all  that  your  brethren  and 
friends  say  to  Onnonthio,  your  governor,  by  the  mouth  of  Garangula,  — 
who  loves  you,  and  desires  you  to  accept  of  this  present  of  beaver,  and 
take  part  with  me  in  my  feast,  to  which  I  invite  you.  This  present 
of  beaver  is  sent  to  Yonnondio  on  the  part  of  the  Five  Nations." 

Mons.  Barre  returned  to  his  fort  much  enraged  at  what  he  had 
heard  ;  Garangula  feasted  the  French  officers,  and  then  went  home  ;  and 
Mons.  Barre  set  out  on  his  way  towards  Montreal ;  and  as  soon  as  the 
general,  with  the  few  soldiers  that  remained  in  health,  had  embarked, 
the  militia  made  their  way  to  their  own  habitations  without  order  or 
discipline.  Thus  a  chargeable  and  fatiguing  expedition  meant  to 
strike  the  terror  of  the  French  name  into  the  stubborn  hearts  of  the 
Five  Nations,  ended  in  a  scold  between  a  French  general  and  an  old 
Indian.  —  Golden**  History  of  the  Five  Nations,  page  68. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       233 

important  to  their  present  and  future  welfare. 
These  devout  Indians  seemed  all  impressed  with 
the  same  feelings,  and  moved  by  the  same  spirit. 
They  were  received  with  affectionate  cordiality,  and 
accommodated  in  a  manner  quite  conformable  to 
their  habits,  in  the  passage,  porch,  and  offices ; 
and  so  deeply  impressed  were  they  with  a  sense 
of  the  awful  duty  that  brought  them  there,  and 
the  rights  of  friendship  and  hospitality,  and  at  this 
period  become  so  much  acquainted  with  our  cus- 
toms, that  though  two  hundred  communicants, 
followed  by  many  of  their  children,  were  used  to 
assemble  on  these  occasions,  the  smallest  instance 
of  riot  or  impropriety  was  not  known  amongst 
them.  They  brought  little  presents  of  game,  or 
of  their  curious  handicrafts,  and  were  liberally  and 
kindly  entertained  by  their  good  brother  Philip,  as 
they  familiarly  called  him.  In  the  evening  they  all 
went  apart  to  secret  prayer;  and  in  the  morning, 
by  dawn  of  day,  they  assembled  before  the  portico ; 
and  their  entertainers,  who  rose  early  to  enjoy, 
unobserved,  a  view  of  their  social  devotion,  beheld 
them  with  their  mantles  drawn  over  their  heads, 
prostrate  on  the  earth,  offering  praises  and  fervent 
supplications  to  their  Maker.  After  some  time 
spent  in  this  manner,  they  arose,  and  seated  in  a 
circle  on  the  ground,  with  their  heads  veiled  as 
formerly,  they  sang  an  hymn,  which  it  was  delight- 
ful to  hear,  from  the  strength,  richness,  and  sweet 
accord  of  their  uncommonly  fine  voices ;  which 


234  MEMOIRS 

every  one  that  ever  heard  this  sacred  chorus,  how- 
ever indifferent  to  the  purport  of  it,  praised  as  in- 
comparable. The  voices  of  the  female  Indians  are 
particularly  sweet  and  powerful.  I  have  often 
heard  my  friend  dwell  with  singular  pleasure  on 
the  recollection  of  those  scenes,  and  of  the  conver- 
sations she  and  the  colonel  used  to  hold  with  the 
Indians,  whom  she  described  as  possessed  of  very 
superior  powers  of  understanding ;  and  in  their 
religious  views  and  conversations,  uniting  the  ardor 
of  proselytes  with  the  firm  decision  and  inflexible 
steadiness  of  their  national  character.  It  was  on 
the  return  of  those  new  Christians  to  the  Flats, 
after  they  had  thus  solemnly  sealed  their  profession, 
that  these  wise  regulations  for  preserving  peace  and 
good  will  between  the  settlers  (now  become  con- 
fident and  careless  from  their  numbers)  and  the 
Indians,  jealous  with  reason  of  their  ancient  rites, 
were  concluded. 


Chapter  XXVIII 

CHRISTIAN   INDIANS  —  THEIR   INFLUENCE 
WITH   THE   MOHAWKS 

THE  influence  these  converts  had  obtained  over 
the  minds  of  those  most  venerated  for  wisdom 
among  their  countrymen,  was  the  medium  through 
which  this  patriot  family,  in  some  degree,  controlled 
the  opinions  of  that  community  at  large,  and  kept 
them  faithful  to  the  British  interests.  Every  two 
or  three  years  there  was  a  congress  held,  by  depu- 
ties from  New  York,  who  generally  spoke  to  the 
Indians  by  an  interpreter;  went  through  the  form 
of  delivering  presents  from  their  brother  the  great 
king,  redressing  petty  grievances,  smoking  the  calu- 
met of  peace,  and  delivering  belts,  the  pledges  of 
amity.  But  these  were  mere  public  forms :  the 
real  terms  of  this  often  renewed  amity  having  been 
previously  digested  by  those  who  far  better  under- 
stood the  relations  subsisting  between  the  contract- 
ing parties,  and  the  causes  most  likely  to  interrupt 
their  union.  Colonel  Schuyler,  though  always 
ready  to  serve  his  country  in  exigencies,  did  not 
like  to  take  upon  himself  any  permanent  respon- 
sibility, as  a  superintendent  of  Indian  affairs,  as  it 
might  have  diminished  that  private  influence  which 


236  MEMOIRS    OF 

arose  from  the  general  veneration  for  his  character, 
and  from  a  conviction  that  the  concern  he  took  was 
voluntary  and  impartial ;  neither  did  he  choose  to 
sacrifice  that  domestic  peace  and  leisure,  which  he 
so  well  knew  how  to  turn  to  the  best  account, 
being  convinced  that  by  his  example  and  influence, 
as  a  private  gentleman,  he  had  it  in  his  power  to 
do  much  good  of  a  peculiar  kind,  which  was  in- 
compatible with  the  weight  and  bustle  of  public 
affairs,  or  with  that  hospitality  which,  as  they 
managed  it,  was  productive  of  so  many  beneficial 
effects.  I  have  already  shown  how,  by  prudent 
address  and  kind  conciliation,  this  patriotic  pair 
soothed  and  attached  the  Indians  to  the  British  in- 
terest. As  the  country  grew  more  populous,  and 
property  more  abundant  and  more  secure,  the  face 
of  society  in  this  inland  region  began  to  change. 
They  whose  quiet  and  orderly  demeanor,  devotion, 
and  integrity  did  not  much  require  the  enforce- 
ment of  laws,  began  now  to  think  themselves  above 
them.  To  a  deputed  authority,  the  source  of  which 
lay  beyond  the  Atlantic,  they  paid  little  deference ; 
and  from  their  neighbors  of  New  Hampshire  and 
Connecticut,  who  bordered  on  their  frontiers,  and 
served  with  them  in  the  colonial  wars,  they  had 
little  to  learn  of  loyalty  or  submission.  These 
people  they  held  in  great  contempt,  both  as  soldiers 
and  statesmen ;  and  yet,  from  their  frequent  inter- 
course with  those  who  talked  of  law  and  politics 
in  their  peculiar  uncouth  dialect  incessantly,  they 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       237 

insensibly  adopted  many  of  their  notions.  There 
is  a  certain  point  of  stable  happiness  at  which  our 
imperfect  nature  merely  seems  to  arrive ;  for  the 
very  materials  of  which  it  is  formed  contain  the 
seeds  of  its  destruction.  This  was  the  case  here : 
that  peaceful  and  desirable  equality  of  conditions, 
from  which  so  many  comforts  resulted,  in  process 
of  time  occasioned  an  aversion  to  superiors,  to 
whom  they  were  not  accustomed,  and  an  exag- 
gerated jealousy  of  the  power  which  was  exercised 
for  their  own  safety  and  comfort.  Their  manners 
unsophisticated,  and  their  morals  in  a  great  measure 
uncorrupted,  led  them  to  regard  with  unjustifiable 
scorn  and  aversion  those  strangers  who  brought 
with  them  the  manners  of  more  polished,  though 
less  pure,  communities.  Proud  of  their  haughty 
bluntness,  which  daily  increased  with  their  wealth 
and  security,  they  began  to  consider  respectful  and 
polite  behavior  as  a  degree  of  servility  and  duplicity  ; 
while  they  revolted  at  the  power  exercised  over 
themselves,  and  very  reluctantly  made  the  exertions 
necessary  for  their  own  protection,  they  showed 
every  inclination  to  usurp  the  territories  of  their 
Indian  allies ;  and  use  to  the  very  utmost  the 
power  they  had  acquired  over  them,  by  supplying 
their  wants. 

At  the  liberal  table  of  Aunt  Schuyler,  where 
there  was  always  intelligence,  just  notions,  and  good 
breeding  to  be  met  with,  both  among  the  owners 
and  their  guests,  many  had  their  prejudices  softened 


238  MEMOIRS    OF 

down,  their  minds  enlarged,  and  their  manners 
improved.  There  they  met  British  officers  of  rank 
and  merit,  and  persons  in  authority ;  and  learnt 
that  the  former  were  not  artificial  coxcombs,  nor 
the  latter  petty  tyrants,  as  they  would  otherwise  be 
very  apt  to  imagine.  Here  they  were  accustomed 
to  find  authority  respected  on  the  one  hand,  and  on 
the  other  to  see  the  natural  rights  of  man  vindicated, 
and  the  utmost  abhorrence  expressed  of  all  the 
sophistry  by  which  the  credulous  were  misled  by 
the  crafty,  to  have  a  code  of  morality  for  their 
treatment  of  heathens,  different  from  that  which 
directed  them  in  their  dealing  with  Christians. 
Here  a  selection  of  the  best  and  worthiest,  of  the 
different  characters  and  classes  we  have  been  de- 
scribing, met ;  and  were  taught,  not  only  to  toler- 
ate, but  to  esteem  each  other;  and  it  required  the 
calm,  temperate  wisdom,  and  easy  versatile  manners 
of  my  friend  to  bring  this  about.  It  is,  when  they 
are  called  to  act  in  a  new  scene,  and  among  people 
different  from  any  they  had  known  or  imagined, 
that  the  folly  of  the  wise  and  the  weakness  of  the 
strong  become  discernable. 

Many  officers  justly  esteemed,  possessed  of  ca- 
pacity, learning,  and  much  knowledge,  both  of  the 
usages  of  the  world,  and  the  art  of  war,  from  the 
want  of  certain  habitudes,  which  nothing  but  experi- 
ence can  teach,  were  disqualified  for  the  warfare  of 
the  woods ;  and  from  a  secret  contempt  with  which 
they  regarded  the  blunt  simplicity  and  plain  appear- 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       239 

ance  of  the  settlers,  were  not  amenable  to  their 
advice  on  these  points.  They  were  not  aware  how 
much  they  were  to  depend  on  them  for  the  means 
of  carrying  on  their  operations ;  and  by  rude  or 
negligent  treatment  so  disgusted  them,  that  they 
withheld  the  horses,  oxen,  wagons,  etc.,  which  were 
to  be  paid  for,  merely  to  show  their  independence ; 
well  knowing  the  dreaded  and  detested  military 
power,  even  if  coercive  measures  were  resorted  to, 
would  have  no  chance  for  redress  in  their  courts ; 
and  even  the  civil  authorities  were  cautious  of  doing 
any  thing  so  unpopular  as  to  decide  in  favor  of  the 
military.  Thus,  till  properly  instructed,  those  be- 
wildered strangers  were  apt  to  do  the  thing  of  all 
others  that  annihilates  a  feeble  authority;  threaten 
where  they  could  not  strike,  and  forfeit  respect 
where  they  could  not  enforce  obedience  :  a  failure  of 
this  kind  clogged  and  enfeebled  all  their  measures ; 
for  without  the  hearty  cooperation  of  the  inhabit- 
ants in  furnishing  prerequisites,  nothing  could  go 
on  in  a  country  without  roads,  or  public  vehicles, 
for  the  conveyance  of  their  warlike  stores.  Another 
rock  they  were  apt  to  run  upon  was,  a  neglect  of 
the  Indians,  whom  they  neither  sufficiently  feared 
as  enemies,  nor  valued  as  friends :  till  taught  to  do 
so  by  maturer  judgments.  Of  this,  Braddock's 
defeat  was  an  instance ;  he  was  brave,  experienced, 
and  versed  in  all  military  science :  his  confidence  in 
which,  occasioned  the  destruction  of  himself  and  his 
army.  He  considered  those  counsels  that  warned 


24o  MEMOIRS    OF 

him,  how  little  manoeuvres  or  numbers  would  avail 
in  the  close  prison  of  innumerable  boughs,  as  the 
result  of  feeble  caution ;  and  marched  his  army  to 
certain  ruin,  in  the  most  brave  and  scientific  manner 
imaginable.  Upon  certain  occasions  there  is  no 
knowledge  so  valuable  as  that  of  our  own  ignorance. 

At  the  Flats,  the  self-righted  boor  learned  civil- 
ization and  subordination :  the  high  bred  and  high 
spirited  field  officer  gentleness,  accommodation,  and 
respect  for  unpolished  worth  and  untaught  valor. 
There,  too,  the  shrewd  and  deeply  reflecting  Indian 
learnt  to  respect  the  British  character,  and  to  con- 
fide in  that  of  the  settlers ;  by  seeing  the  best  speci- 
mens of  both  acting  candidly  towards  each  other, 
and  generously  to  himself. 

My  friend  was  most  particularly  calculated  to  be 
the  coadjutor  of  her  excellent  consort,  in  thus  subdu- 
ing the  spirits  of  different  classes  of  people,  strongly 
disposed  to  entertain  a  repulsive  dislike  of  each 
other ,  and  by  leading  them  to  the  chastened  enjoy- 
ment of  the  same  social  pleasure,  under  the  auspices 
of  those,  whose  good  will  they  were  all  equally  con- 
vinced of,  she  contrived  to  smooth  down  asperities, 
and  assimilate  those  various  characters,  in  a  manner 
that  could  not  be  done  by  any  other  means. 

Accustomed  from  childhood,  both  from  the  gen- 
eral state  of  society,  and  the  enlarged  minds  of 
her  particular  associates,  to  take  liberal  views  of 
everything,  and  to  look  forward  on  all  occasions  to 
consequences,  she  steadily  followed  her  wise  and 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       241 

benevolent  purposes,  without  being  attracted  by 
petty  gratifications,  or  repelled  by  petty  disgusts. 
Neither  influenced  by  female  vanity,  or  female  fas- 
tidiousness, she  might  very  truly  say  of  popularity, 
as  FalstafF  says  of  Worcester's  rebellion,  "  it  lay  in 
her  way  and  she  found  it : "  for  no  one  ever  took 
less  pains  to  obtain  it ;  and  if  the  weight  of  solid 
usefulness  and  beneficence  had  not,  as  it  never  fails 
to  do  in  the  long  run,  forced  approbation,  her  mode 
of  conducting  herself,  though  it  might  greatly  endear 
her  to  her  particular  associates,  was  not  conciliating 
to  common  minds.  The  fact  was,  that,  though  her 
benevolence  extended  through  the  whole  circle  of 
those  to  whom  she  was  known,  she  had  too  many 
objects  of  importance  in  view  to  squander  time 
upon  imbecility  and  insignificance.  Nor  could  she 
find  leisure  for  the  routine  of  ordinary  visits,  or 
inclination  for  the  insipidity  of  ordinary  chit-chat. 

If  people  of  the  description  here  alluded  to,  could 
forward  any  plan  advantageous  to  the  public,  or  to 
any  of  those  persons  in  whom  she  was  particularly 
interested,  she  would  treat  them  occasionally  with 
much  civility":  for  she  had  all  the  power  of  superior 
intellect  without  the  pride  of  it:  but  could  not 
submit  to  a  perpetual  sacrifice  to  forms  and  trifles. 
This,  in  her,  was  not  only  justifiable,  but  laudable  ; 
yet  it  is  not  mentioned  as  an  example,  because  a  case 
can  very  rarely  occur,  where  the  benefit  resulting  to 
others,  from  making  one's  own  path,  and  forsaking 
the  ordinary  road,  can  be  so  essential;  few  ever 

VOL.    I.  —  1 6 


242  MEMOIRS 

can  have  a  sphere  of  action  so  peculiar  or  so  im- 
portant as  hers ;  and  very  few  indeed  have  so 
sound  a  judgment  to  direct  them  in  choosing,  or  so 
much  fortitude  to  support  them  in  pursuing,  a  way 
of  their  own. 

In  ordinary  matters,  where  neither  religion  nor 
morality  is  concerned,  it  is  much  safer  to  trust  to 
the  common  sense  of  mankind  in  general,  than  to 
our  own  particular  fancy.  Singularity  of  conduct 
or  opinion  is  so  often  the  result  of  vanity  or  affec- 
tation, that  whoever  ventures  upon  it  ought  to  be 
a  person  whose  example  is  looked  up  to  by  others. 
A  person  too  great  to  follow,  ought  to  be  great 
enough  to  lead.  But  though  her  conversation  was 
reserved  for  those  she  preferred,  her  advice,  com- 
passion, and  good  offices  were  always  given  where 
most  needed. 


Chapter  XXIX 

MADAME'S  ADOPTED  CHILDREN  —  SISTER  SUSAN 

YEARS  passed  away  in  this  manner,  varied  only 
by  the  extension  of  that  protection  and  edu- 
cation which  they  gave  to  a  succession  of  nephews 
and  nieces  of  the  colonel  or  Mrs.  Schuyler.  These 
they  did  not  take  from  mere  compassion,  as  all 
their  relations  were  in  easy  circumstances ;  but 
influenced  by  various  considerations,  such  as,  in 
some  cases,  the  death  of  the  mother  of  the  children, 
or  perhaps  the  father ;  in  others,  where  their  nieces 
or  nephews  married  very  early,  and  lived  in  the 
houses  of  their  respective  parents,  while  their  young 
family  increased  before  they  had  a  settled  home; 
or  in  instances  where,  from  the  remote  situations 
in  which  the  parents  lived,  they  could  not  so  easily 
educate  them.  Indeed  the  difficulty  of  getting  a 
suitable  education  for  children,  whose  parents  were 
ambitious  for  their  improvement,  was  great;  and 
a  family  so  well  regulated  as  hers,  and  frequented 
by  such  society,  was  in  itself  an  academy,  both 
for  the  best  morals  and  manners.  When  people 
have  children  born  to  them,  they  must  submit  to 
the  ordinary  lot  of  humanity  ;  and  if  they  have  not 
the  happiness  of  meeting  with  many  good  qualities 


244  MEMOIRS    OF 

to  cultivate  and  rejoice  over,  there  is  nothing  left 
for  them  but  to  exert  themselves  to  the  utmost 
to  reform  and  ameliorate  what  will  admit  of  im- 
provement. They  must  carefully  weed  and  prop ; 
if  the  soil  produce  a  crop  both  feeble  and  redun- 
dant, affection  will  blind  them,  to  many  defects ; 
imperious  duty  will  stimulate  them,  and  hope, 
soothing,  however  deceitful,  will  support  them. 
But  when  people  have  the  privilege,  as  in  this 
case,  of  choosing  a  child,  they  are  fairly  entitled  to 
select  the  most  promising.  This  selection  I  under- 
stood always  to  have  been  left  to  Aunt  Schuyler ; 
and  it  appeared,  by  the  event,  to  have  been  gen- 
erally a  happy  one.  Fifteen,  either  nephews  or 
nieces,  or  the  children  of  such,  who  had  been 
under  her  care,  all  lived  to  grow  up  and  go  out 
into  the  world :  all  acted  their  parts  so  as  to 
do  credit  to  the  instruction  they  had  received,  and 
the  example  they  looked  up  to.  Besides  these, 
they  had  many  whom  they  brought  for  two  or 
three  years  to  their  house  to  reside ;  either  because 
the  family  they  came  from  was  at  the  time  crowded 
with  younger  children,  or  because  they  were  at 
a  time  of  life  when  a  year  or  two  spent  in  such 
society  as  was  there  assembled,  might  not  only 
form  their  manners,  but  give  a  bias  to  their  future 
character. 

About  the  year  1730,  they  brought  home  a 
nephew  of  the  colonel's,  whose  father  having  a  large 
family,  and  having,  to  the  best  of  my  recollection, 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       245 

lost  his  wife,  entirely  gave  over  the  boy  to  the 
protection  of  his  relation.  This  boy  was  his  uncle's 
god-son,  and  called  Philip1  after  him.  He  was  a 
great  favorite  in  the  family ;  for  though  apparently 
thoughtless  and  giddy,  he  had  a  very  good  temper, 
and  quick  parts ;  and  was  upon  the  whole  an 
ingenious,  lively,  and  amusing  child.  He  was  a 
very  great  favorite,  and  continued  to  be  so  in  some 
measure,  when  he  grew  up. 

There  were  other  children,  whose  names  and 
relation  to  my  friends  I  do  not  remember,  in  the 
house  at  the  same  time;  but  none  that  staid  so 
long,  or  were  so  much  talked  of  as  this.  There 
certainly  never  were  people  who  received  so  much 
company,  made  so  respectable  a  figure  in  life,  and 
always  kept  so  large  a  family  about  them  with  so 
little  tumult  or  bustle,  or  indeed  at  so  moderate 
an  expense.  What  their  income  was  I  cannot  say ; 
but  am  sure  it  could  not  have  been  what  we  should 
think  adequate  to  the  good  they  did,  and  the  hospi- 
tality and  beneficence  which  they  practised :  for  the 
rents  of  land  were  then  of  so  little  value,  that 
though  they  possessed  a  considerable  estate  in 
another  part  of  the  country,  only  very  moderate 
profits  could  result  from  it;  but,  indeed,  from  the 
simplicity  of  dress,  etc.,  it  was  easier ;  though  in 
that  respect,  too,  they  preserved  a  kind  of  dignity, 
and  went  beyond  others  in  the  materials,  though 

1  Colonel  Schuyler's  sister  Gertrude  married  Johannes  Lansing, 
and  had  a  large  family.  It  was  her  son  Philip  here  referred  to. 


246  MEMOIRS    OF 

not  the  form  of  their  apparel.  Yet  their  principal 
expense  was  a  most  plentiful  and  well  ordered  table, 
quite  in  the  English  style :  which  was  a  kind  of 
innovation  :  but  so  many  strangers  frequented  the 
houses  of  the  three  brothers,  that  it  was  necessary 
to  accommodate  themselves  to  the  habit  of  their 
guests. 

Peter  being  in  his  youth  an  extensive  trader,  had 
spent  much  time  in  Canada,  among  the  noblesse 
there  ;  and  had  served  in  the  continental  levies. 
He  had  a  fine  commanding  figure,  and  quite  the 
air  and  address  of  a  gentleman,  and  was,  when  I 
knew  him,  an  old  man. 

Intelligent  and  pleasing  in  a  very  high  degree, 
Jeremiah  had  too  much  familiar  kindness  to  be 
looked  up  to  like  his  brother.  Yet  he  also  had 
a  very  good  understanding,  great  frankness  and 
affability,  and  was  described  by  all  who  knew  him, 
as  the  very  soul  of  cordial  friendship  and  warm 
benevolence.  He  married  a  polished  and  well  edu- 
cated person,  whose  parents  (French  protestants) 
were  people  of  the  first  fashion  in  New  York,  and 
had  given  with  her  a  good  fortune,  a  thing  very 
unusual  in  that  country.  They  used  in  the  early 
years  of  their  marriage,  to  pay  a  visit  every  winter 
to  their  connections  at  New  York,  who  passed 
part  of  every  summer  with  them.  This  connection, 
as  well  as  that  with  the  Flats,  gave  an  air  of  polish, 
and  a  tincture  of  elegance  to  this  family  beyond 
others ;  and  there  were  few  so  gay  and  social. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       247 

This  cheerfulness  was  supported  by  a  large  family, 
fourteen,  I  think,  of  very  promising  children. 
These,  however,  inheriting  from  their  mother's 
family  a  delicate  constitution,  died  one  after  another 
as  they  came  to  maturity  :  one  only,  a  daughter, 
lived  to  be  married ;  but  died  after  having  had  one 
son  and  one  daughter.1 

I  saw  the  mother  of  this  large  family,  after  out- 
living her  own  children,  and  a  still  greater  number  of 
brothers  and  sisters,  who  had  all  settled  in  life,  pros- 
perous and  flourishing,  when  she  married  ;  I  saw  her 
a  helpless  bed-ridden  invalid ;  without  any  remain- 
ing tie,  but  a  sordid  grasping  son-in-law,  and  two 
grandchildren,  brought  up  at  a  distance  from  her. 

With  her,  too,  I  was  a  great  favorite,  because 
I  listened  with  interest  to  her  details  of  early  happi- 
ness, and  subsequent  woes  and  privations ;  all  of 
which  she  described  to  me  with  great  animation, 
and  the  most  pathetic  eloquence.  How  much  a 
patient  listener,  who  has  sympathy  and  interest  to 
bestow  on  a  tale  of  wo,  will  hear  !  and  how  affect- 
ing is  the  respect  and  compassion  even  of  an  artless 
child,  to  a  heart  that  has  felt  the  bitterness  of 
neglect,  and  known  what  it  was  to  pine  in  solitary 
sadness  !  Many  a  bleak  day  have  I  walked  a  mile 
to  visit  this  blasted  tree,  which  the  storm  of 
calamity  had  stripped  of  every  leaf!  and  surely 
in  the  house  of  sorrow  the  heart  is  made  better. 

1  Three  of  Jeremiah  Schuyler's  daughters  were  married,  but  died 
before  their  mother,  leaving  small  families. 


248  MEMOIRS    OF 

From  this  chronicle  of  past  times,  I  derived 
much  information  respecting  our  good  aunt ;  such 
as  she  would  not  have  given  me  herself.  The 
kindness  of  this  generous  sister-in-law  was  indeed 
the  only  light  that  shone  on  the  declining  days  of 
Sister  Susan,  as  she  was  wont  affectionately  to  call 
her.  What  a  sad  narrative  would  the  detail  of  this 
poor  woman's  sorrows  afford  !  which,  however,  she 
did  not  relate  in  a  querulous  manner ;  for  her  soul 
was  subdued  by  affliction,  and  she  did  not  "  mourn 
as  those  that  have  no  hope."  One  instance  of  self- 
accusation  I  must  record.  She  used  to  describe  the 
family  she  left  as  being  no  less  happy,  united,  and 
highly  prosperous,  than  that  into  which  she  came : 
if,  indeed,  she  could  be  said  to  leave  it,  going  as  she 
did  for  some  months  every  year  to  her  mother's 
house,  whose  darling  she  was,  and  who,  being  only 
fifteen  years  older  than  herself,  was  more  like  an 
elder  sister,  united  by  fond  affection. 

She  went  to  New  York  to  lie  in,  at  her  mother's 
house,  of  her  four  or  five  first  children ;  her  mother 
at  the  same  time  having  children  as  young  as  hers : 
and  thus  caressed  at  home  by  a  fond  husband,  and 
received  with  exultation  by  the  tenderest  parents ; 
young,  gay,  and  fortunate,  her  removals  were  only 
variations  of  felicity  ;  but  gratified  in  every  wish,  she 
knew  not  what  sorrow  was,  nor  how  to  receive  the 
unwelcome  stranger  when  it  arrived.  At  length  she 
went  down  to  her  father's  as  usual,  to  lie  in  of  her 
fourth  child,  which  died  when  it  was  eight  days  old. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       249 

She  then  screamed  with  agony,  and  told  her  mother, 
who  tried  by  pious  counsel  to  alleviate  her  grief, 
that  she  was  the  most  miserable  of  human  beings ; 
for  that  no  one  was  capable  of  loving  their  child  so 
well  as  she  did  hers,  and  could  not  think  by  what 
sin  she  had  provoked  this  affliction :  finally,  she 
clasped  the  dead  infant  to  her  bosom,  and  was  not, 
without  the  utmost  difficulty,  persuaded  to  part  with 
it;  while  her  frantic  grief  outraged  all  decorum. 
After  this,  said  she,  "  I  have  seen  my  thirteen 
grown-up  children,  and  my  dear  and  excellent  hus- 
band, all  carried  out  of  this  house  to  the  grave :  I 
have  lost  the  worthiest  and  most  affectionate  par- 
ents, brothers  and  sisters,  such  as  few  ever  had ; 
and  however  my  heart  might  be  pierced  with  sor- 
row, it  was  still  more  deeply  pierced  with  a  convic- 
tion of  my  own  past  impiety  and  ingratitude  ;  and 
under  all  this  affliction  I  wept  silently  and  alone  ; 
and  my  outcry  or  lamentation  was  never  heard  by 
mortal."  What  a  lesson  was  this  ! 

This  once  much  loved  and  much  respected 
woman,  have  I  seen  sitting  in  her  bed,  where  she 
had  been  long  confined,  neglected  by  all  those 
whom  she  had  known  in  her  better  days,  excepting 
Aunt  Schuyler,  who,  unwieldy  and  unfit  for  visiting 
as  she  was,  came  out  two  or  three  times  in  the  year 
to  see  her,  and  constantly  sent  her  kindly  tokens  of 
remembrance.  Had  she  been  more  careful  to  pre- 
serve her  independence,  and  had  she  accommodated 
herself  more  to  the  plain  manners  of  the  people  she 


250  MEMOIRS    OF 

lived  among,  she  might  in  her  adversity  have  met 
with  more  attention ;  but  too  conscious  of  her  at- 
tainments, lively,  regardless,  and  perhaps  vain,  and 
confident  of  being  surrounded  and  admired  by  a 
band  of  kinsfolk,  she  was  at  no  pains  to  conciliate 
others ;  she  had,  too,  some  expensive  habits ;  which, 
when  the  tide  of  prosperity  ebbed,  could  meet  with 
little  indulgence  among  a  people  who  never  enter- 
tained an  idea  of  living  beyond  their  circumstances. 

Thus,  even  among  those  unpolished  people,  one 
might  learn  how  severely  the  insolence  of  prosper- 
ity can  be  avenged  on  us,  even  by  those  we  have 
despised  and  slighted ;  and  who  perhaps  were  very 
much  our  inferiors  in  every  respect :  though  both 
humanity  and  good  sense  should  prevent  our 
mortifying  them,  by  showing  ourselves  sensible  of 
that  circumstance. 

This  year  was  a  fatal  one  to  the  families  of  the 
three  brothers.  Jeremiah,  impatient  of  the  uneasi- 
ness caused  by  a  wen  upon  his  neck,  submitted  to 
undergo  an  operation :  which,  being  unskillfully 
performed,  ended  fatally,  to  the  unspeakable  grief 
of  his  brothers  and  of  aunt,  who  was  particularly 
attached  to  him,  and  often  dwelt  on  the  recollection 
of  his  singularly  compassionate  disposition,  the  gen- 
erous openness  of  his  temper,  and  peculiar  warmth 
of  his  affections.  He,  indeed,  was  "taken  away 
from  the  evil  to  come ; "  for  of  his  large  family, 
one  after  the  other  went  off,  in  consequence  of  the 
weakness  of  their  lungs  ;  which  withstood  none  of 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        251 

the  ordinary  diseases  of  small-pox,  measles,  etc., 
till  in  a  few  years,  there  was  not  one  remaining. 
These  were  melancholy  inroads  on  the  peace  of 
her,  who  might  truly  be  said,  to  "  watch  and  weep, 
and  pray  for  all ; "  for  nothing  could  exceed  our 
good  aunt's  care  and  tenderness  for  this  feeble 
family  ;  who  seemed  flowers  which  merely  bloomed 
to  wither  in  their  prime ;  for  they  were,  as  is  often 
the  case  with  those  who  inherit  such  disorders, 
beautiful,  with  quickness  of  comprehension,  and 
abilities  beyond  their  age. 


Chapter  XXX 


DEATH   OF   YOUNG   PETER   SCHUYLER — 
SOCIETY  AT   THE   FLATS 

ANOTHER  very  heavy  sorrow  followed  the 
death  of  Jeremiah ;  Peter,  being  the  eldest 
brother,  his  son,  as  I  formerly  mentioned,  was  con- 
sidered and  educated  as  heir  to  the  colonel.  It  was 
Peter's  house  that  stood  next  to  the  colonel's  ;  their 
dwelling  being  arranged  according  to  their  ages,  the 
youth  was  not  in  the  least  estranged  from  his  own 
family  (who  were  half  a  mile  off),  by  his  residence 
in  his  uncle's,  and  was  peculiarly  endeared  to  all  the 
families  (who  regarded  him  as  the  future  head  of 
their  house),  by  his  gentle  manners  and  excellent 
qualities.  With  all  these  personal  advantages,  which 
distinguished  that  comely  race,  and  which  give  grace 
and  attraction  to  the  unfolding  blossoms  of  virtue, 
at  an  early  age  he  was  sent  to  a  kind  of  college, 
then  established  in  New  Jersey  ;  and  he  was  there 
instructed,  as  far  as  in  that  place  he  could  be.  He 
soon  formed  an  attachment  to  a  lady  still  younger 
than  himself,  but  so  well  brought  up,  and  so  re- 
spectably connected,  that  his  friends  were  greatly 
pleased  with  the  marriage,  early  as  it  was,  and  his 
father,  with  the  highest  satisfaction,  received  the 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       253 

young  couple  into  the  house.  There  they  were 
the  delight  and  ornament  of  the  family,  and  lived 
amongst  them  as  a  common  blessing.  The  first 
year  of  their  marriage  a  daughter  was  born  to  them, 
whom  they  named  Cornelia;  and  the  next,  a  son 
whom  they  called  Peter.1  The  following  year, 
which  was  the  same  that  deprived  them  of  their 
brother  Jeremiah,  proved  fatal  to  a  great  many 
children  and  young  people,  in  consequence  of  an 
endemial  disease,  which  every  now  and  then  used 
to  appear  in  the  country,  and  made  great  havoc. 
It  was  called  the  purple  or  spotted  fever,  and  was 
probably  of  the  putrid  kind :  be  that  as  it  may,  it 
proved  fatal  to  this  interesting  young  couple. 
Peter,  who  had  lost  his  wife  but  a  short  time 
before,  was  entirely  overwhelmed  by  this  stroke  : 
a  hardness  of  hearing,  which  had  been  gradually 
increasing  before,  deprived  him  of  the  consolations 
he  might  have  derived  from  society.  He  encour- 
aged his  second  son  to  marry ;  shut  himself  up  for 
the  most  part  in  his  own  apartment ;  and  became, 
in  effect,  one  of  those  lay  brothers  I  have  formerly 
described.  Yet,  when  time  had  blunted  the  edge 
of  this  keen  affliction,  many  years  after,  when  we 
lived  at  the  Flats,  he  used  to  visit  us :  and  though 

1  Peter  Schuyler,  third  of  the  name,  married  Gertrude,  daughter 
of  John  Schuyler,  Jr.,  and  sister  of  Philip  S.,  the  future  major-general. 
He  died  September,  1753,  leaving  a  widow  and  two  children.  His 
daughter  Cornelia  married  Walter  Livingston  of  the  Manor  ;  and  his 
son  Peter  married  Gertrude  Lansing.  His  widow  subsequently  mar- 
ried Dr.  John  Cochran,  surgeon-general  of  the  Revolutionary  Army. 


254  MEMOIRS    OF 

he  did  not  hear  well,  he  conversed  with  great  spirit, 
and  was  full  of  anecdote  and  information.  Mean- 
while, Madame  did  not  sink  under  this  calamity, 
though  she  felt  it  as  much  as  her  husband,  but 
supported  him ;  and  exerted  herself  to  extract  con- 
solation from  performing  the  duties  of  a  mother  to 
the  infant  who  was  now  become  the  representative 
of  the  family.  Little  Peter 1  was  accordingly  brought 
home,  and  succeeded  to  all  that  care  and  affection 
of  which  his  father  had  formerly  been  the  object, 
while  Cornelia  was  taken  home  to  Jersey,  to  the 
family  of  her  maternal  grandfather,2  who  was  a  dis- 
tinguished person  in  that  district.  There  she  was 
exceedingly  well  educated,  became  an  elegant  and 
very  pleasing  young  woman,  and  was  happily  and 
most  respectably  married  before  I  left  the  country, 
as  was  her  brother  very  soon  after.  They  are  still 
living  ;  and  Peter,  a'dhering  to  what  might  be  called, 
eventually  the  safer  side,  during  the  war  with  the 
mother  country,  succeeded  undisturbed  to  his 
uncle's  inheritance. 

All  these  new  cares  and  sorrows  did  not  in  the 
least  abate  the  hospitality,  the  popularity,  or  the 
public  spirit  of  these  truly  great  minds.  Their 
dwelling,  though  in  some  measure  become  a  house 
of  mourning,  was  still  the  rendezvous  of  the  wise 

1  Peter  Schuyler,  fourth  of  the  name,  was  a  man  of  considerable 
prominence,  and  was  State  Senator  several  terms.      He  died  January, 
1792,  leaving  no  children. 

2  Her    step-father,   Dr.   John  Cochran,   lived  for  a  time  in  New 
Brunswick,   N.   J. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       255 

and  worthy,  the  refuge  of  the  stranger,  and  an 
academy  for  deep  and  sound  thinking,  taste,  intelli- 
gence, and  moral  beauty.  There  the  plans  for  the 
public  good  were  digested  by  the  rulers  of  the  prov- 
ince, who  came,  under  the  pretext  of  a  summer  ex- 
cursion for  mere  amusement.  There  the  operations 
of  the  army,  and  the  treaties  of  peace  or  alliance 
with  various  nations,  were  arranged ;  for  there  the 
legislators  of  the  state,  and  the  leaders  of  the  war, 
were  received,  and  mixed  serious  and  important 
counsels  with  convivial  cheerfulness,  and  domestic 
ease  and  familiarity.  'T  is  not  to  be  conceived  how 
essential  a  point  of  union,  a  barrier  against  license, 
and  a  focus,  in  which  the  rays  of  intellect  and  in- 
telligence were  concentrated  (such  as  in  this  family), 
were  to  unite  the  jarring  elements  of  which  the 
community  was  composed,  and  to  suggest  to  those 
who  had  power  without  experience,  the  means  of 
mingling  in  due  proportions  its  various  materials 
for  the  public  utility.  Still,  though  the  details  of 
family  happiness  were  abridged,  the  spirit  that  pro- 
duced it  continued  to  exist,  and  to  find  new  objects 
of  interest.  A  mind  elevated  by  the  consciousness 
of  its  own  powers,  and  enlarged  by  the  habitual 
exercise  of  them,  for  the  great  purpose  of  promot- 
ing the  good  of  others,  yields  to  the  pressure  of  ca- 
lamity, but  sinks  not  under  it;  particularly  when 
habituated,  like  these  exalted  characters,  to  look 
through  the  long  vista  of  futurity  towards  the  final 
accomplishment  of  the  designs  of  Providence.  Like 


256  MEMOIRS     OF 

a  diligent  gardener,  who,  when  his  promising  young 
plants  are  blasted  in  full  strength  and  beauty, 
though  he  feels  extremely  for  their  loss,  does  not 
sit  down  in  idle  chagrin,  but  redoubles  his  efforts 
to  train  up  their  successors  to  the  same  degree  of 
excellence.  Considering  the  large  family  she  (Ma- 
dame) always  had  about  her,  of  which  she  was  the 
guiding  star  as  well  as  the  informing  soul,  and  the 
innocent  cheerfulness  which  she  encouraged  and 
enjoyed ;  considering,  too,  the  number  of  interest- 
ing guests  whom  she  received,  and  that  complete 
union  of  minds,  which  made  her  enter  so  intimately 
into  all  the  colonel's  pursuits,  it  may  be  wondered 
how  she  found  time  for  solid  and  improved  read- 
ing ;  because  people,  whose  time  is  so  much  occu- 
pied in  business  and  society,  are  apt  to  relax,  with 
amusing  trifles  of  the  desultory  kind,  when  they 
have  odd  half  hours  to  bestow  on  literary  amuse- 
ments. But  her  strong  and  indefatigable  mind 
never  loosened  its  grasp  ;  ever  intent  on  the  useful 
and  the  noble,  she  found  little  leisure  for  what  are 
indeed  the  greatest  objects  of  feeble  characters. 
After  the  middle  of  life  she  went  little  out ;  her 
household,  long  since  arranged  by  certain  general 
rules,  went  regularly  on,  because  every  domestic 
knew  exactly  the  duties  of  his  or  her  place,  and 
dreaded  losing  it,  as  the  greatest  possible  misfortune. 
She  had  always  with  her  some  young  person,  "  who 
was  unto  her  as  a  daughter ; "  who  was  her  friend 
and  companion ;  and  bred  up  in  such  a  manner  as 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       257 

to  qualify  her  for  being  such  ;  and  one  of  whose 
duties  it  was  to  inspect  the  state  of  the  household, 
and  "  report  progress,"  with  regard  to  the  operations 
going  on  in  the  various  departments.  For  no  one 
better  understood,  or  more  justly  estimated,  the 
duties  of  housewifery.  Thus,  those  young  females, 
who  had  the  happiness  of  being  bred  under  her 
auspices,  very  soon  became  qualified  to  assist  her, 
instead  of  encroaching  much  on  her  time.  The 
example  and  conversation  of  the  family  in  which 
they  lived,  was  to  them  a  perpetual  school  for  use- 
ful knowledge,  and  manners  easy  and  dignified, 
though  natural  and  artless.  They  were  not  indeed 
embellished,  but  then  they  were  not  deformed  by 
affectation,  pretensions,  or  defective  imitations  of 
fashionable  models  of  nature.  They  were  not  in- 
deed bred  up  "  to  dance,  to  dress,  to  roll  the  eye, 
or  troul  the  tongue;"  yet  they  were  not  lectured 
into  unnatural  gravity,  or  frozen  reserve.  I  have 
seen  those  of  them  that  were  lovely,  gay,  and  ani- 
mated, though  in  the  words  of  an  old  familiar  lyric, 

"  Without  disguise  or  art,  like  flowers  that  grace  the  wild, 

Their  sweets  they  did  impart  whene'er  they  spoke  or  smiled." 

Two  of  those  to  whom  this  description  particularly 
applies,  still  live ;  and  still  retain  not  only  evident 
traces  of  beauty,  but  that  unstudied  grace  and  dig- 
nity which  is  the  result  of  conscious  worth  and 
honor,  habituated  to  receive  the  tribute  of  general 
respect.  This  is  the  privilege  of  minds  which  are 

VOL.  I.  — 17 


258  MEMOIRS    OF 

always  in  their  own  place,  and  neither  stoop  to 
solicit  applause  from  their  inferiors,  nor  strive  to 
rise  to  a  fancied  equality  with  those  whom  nature 
or  fortune  have  placed  beyond  them. 

Aunt  was  a  great  manager  of  her  time,  and  always 
contrived  to  create  leisure  hours  for  reading ;  for 
that  kind  of  conversation  which  is  properly  styled 
gossiping,  she  had  the  utmost  contempt.  Light, 
superficial  reading,  such  as  merely  fills  a  blank  in 
time,  and  glides  over  the  mind  without  leaving  an 
impression,  was  little  known  there  ;  for  few  books 
crossed  the  Atlantic  but  such  as  were  worth  carry- 
ing so  far  for  their  intrinsic  value.  She  was  too 
much  accustomed  to  have  her  mind  occupied  with 
objects  of  real  weight  and  importance,  to  give  it 
up  to  frivolous  pursuits  of  any  kind.  She  began 
the  morning  with  reading  the  scriptures.  They 
always  breakfasted  early,  and  dined  two  hours  later 
than  the  primitive  inhabitants,  who  always  took 
that  meal  at  twelve.  This  departure  from  the 
ancient  customs  was  necessary  in  this  family,  to 
accommodate  the  great  numbers  of  British  as  well 
as  strangers  from  New  York,  who  were  daily  enter- 
tained at  her  liberal  table.  This  arrangement  gave 
her  the  advantage  of  a  longer  forenoon  to  dispose 
of.  After  breakfast  she  gave  orders  for  the  family 
details  of  the  day,  which,  without  a  scrupulous 
attention  to  those  minutae  which  fell  more  properly 
under  the  notice  of  her  young  friends,  she  always 
regulated  in  the  most  judicious  manner,  so  as  to 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         259 

prevent  all  appearance  of  hurry  and  confusion. 
There  was  such  a  rivalry  among  domestics,  whose 
sole  ambition  was  her  favor ;  and  who  had  been  so 
trained  up  from  infancy,  each  to  their  several  duties, 
that  excellence  in  each  department  was  the  result 
both  of  habit  and  emulation ;  while  her  young 
proteges  were  early  taught  the  value  and  impor- 
tance of  good  housewifery,  and  were  sedulous  to 
little  matters  of  decoration  and  elegance,  which  her 
mind  was  too  much  engrossed  to  attend  to ;  so 
that  her  household  affairs,  ever  well  regulated,  went 
on  in  a  mechanical  kind  of  progress,  that  seemed 
to  engage  little  of  her  attention,  though  her  vigilant 
and  overruling  mind  set  every  spring  of  action  in 
motion.  Having  thus  easily  and  speedily  arranged 
the  details  of  the  day,  she  retired  to  read  in  her 
closet,  where  she  generally  remained  till  about 
eleven ;  when,  being  unequal  to  distant  walks,  the 
colonel  and  she,  and  some  of  her  elder  guests, 
passed  some  of  the  hotter  hours  among  those 
embowering  shades  of  her  garden,  in  which  she 
took  great  pleasure.  Here  was  their  lyceum  ;  here 
questions  in  religion  and  morality,  too  weighty  for 
table  talk,  were  leisurely  and  coolly  discussed;  and 
plans  of  policy  and  various  utility  arranged.  From 
this  retreat  they  adjourned  to  the  portico ;  and 
while  the  colonel  either  retired  to  write,  or  went  to 
give  directions  to  his  servants,  she  sat  in  this  little 
tribunal,  giving  audience  to  new  settlers,  followers 
of  the  army  left  in  hapless  dependence,  and  others 


26o  MEMOIRS     OF 

who  wanted  assistance  or  advice,  or  hoped  she 
would  intercede  with  the  colonel  for  something 
more  peculiarly  in  his  way,  he  having  great  influence 
with  the  colonial  government.  At  the  usual  hour 
her  dinner-party  assembled,  which  was  generally  a 
large  one ;  and  here  I  must  digress  from  the  detail 
of  the  day  to  observe,  that,  looking  up  as  I  always 
did  to  Madame  with  admiring  veneration,  and 
having  always  heard  her  mentioned  with  unqualified 
applause,  I  look  often  back  to  think  what  defects 
or  faults  she  could  possibly  have  to  rank  with  the 
sons  and  daughters  of  imperfection,  inhabiting  this 
transitory  scene  of  existence,  well  knowing,  from 
subsequent  observation  of  life,  that  error  is  the 
unavoidable  portion  of  humanity.  Yet  of  this 
truism,  to  which  every  one  will  readily  subscribe, 
I  can  recollect  no  proof  in  my  friend's  conduct, 
unless  the  luxury  of  her  table  might  be  produced 
to  confirm  it.  Yet  this,  after  all,  was  but  com- 
parative luxury.  There  was  more  choice  and  selec- 
tion, and  perhaps  more  abundance  at  her  table, 
than  at  those  of  the  other  primitive  inhabitants, 
yet  how  simple  were  her  repasts  compared  to  those 
which  the  luxury  of  the  higher  ranks  in  this  country 
offer  to  provoke  the  sated  appetite.  Her  dinner- 
party generally  consisted  of  some  of  her  intimate 
friends  or  near  relations  ;  her  adopted  children,  who 
were  inmates  for  the  time  being ;  and  strangers 
sometimes  invited,  merely  as  friendless  travellers, 
on  the  score  of  hospitality,  but  often  welcomed  for 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       261 

some  time  as  stationary  visitors,  on  account  of 
worth  or  talents,  that  gave  value  to  their  society ; 
and,  lastly,  military  guests,  selected  with  some  dis- 
crimination on  account  of  the  young  friends,  whom 
they  wished  not  only  to  protect,  but  cultivate  by 
an  improving  association.  Conversation  here  was 
always  rational,  generally  instructive,  and  often 
cheerful.  The  afternoon  frequently  brought  with 
it  a  new  set  of  guests.  Tea  was  always  drank  early 
here  ;  and  as  I  have  formerly  observed,  was  at- 
tended with  so  many  petty  luxuries  of  pastry,  con- 
fectionery, etc.,  that  it  might  well  be  accounted  a 
meal  by  those  whose  early  and  frugal  dinners  had  so 
long  gone  by.  In  Albany  it  was  customary,  after 
the  heat  of  the  day  was  past,  for  the  young  people 
to  go  in  parties  of  three  or  four,  in  open  carriages,  to 
drink  tea  at  an  hour  or  two's  drive  from  town.  The 
receiving  and  entertaining  this  sort  of  company 
generally  was  the  province  of  the  younger  part  of 
the  family ;  and  of  these  parties  many  came  in  sum- 
mer evenings  to  the  Flats,  when  tea,  which  was  very 
early,  was  over.  The  young  people,  and  those  who 
were  older,  took  their  different  walks,  while  Madame 
sat  in  her  portico,  engaged  in  what  might  compara- 
tively be  called  light  reading,  essays,  biography,  poe- 
try, etc.,  till  the  younger  party  set  out  on  their  return 
home,  and  her  domestic  friends  rejoined  her  in  her 
portico,  where,  in  warm  evenings,  a  slight  repast  was 
sometimes  brought ;  but  they  more  frequently 
shared  the  last  and  most  truly  social  meal  within. 


262  MEMOIRS    OF 

Winter  made  little  difference  in  her  mode  of 
occupying  her  time.  She  then  always  retired  to 
her  closet  to  read  at  stated  periods. 

In  conversation  she  certainly  took  delight,  and 
peculiarly  excelled  ;  yet  did  not  in  the  least  engross 
it,  or  seem  to  dictate.  On  the  contrary,  her  thirst 
for  knowledge  was  such,  and  she  possessed  such  a 
peculiar  talent  for  discovering  the  point  of  utility 
in  all  things,  that  from  every  one's  discourse  she 
extracted  some  information,  on  which  the  light  of 
her  mind  was  thrown  in  such  a  direction,  as  made 
it  turn  to  account.  Whenever  she  laid  down  her 
book  she  took  up  her  knitting,  which  neither  occu- 
pied her  eyes  nor  attention,  while  it  kept  her  fingers 
engaged ;  thus  setting  an  example  of  humble  dili- 
gence to  her  younger  proteges.  In  this  employ- 
ment she  had  a  kind  of  tender  satisfaction,  as  little 
children,  reared  in  the  family,  were  the  only  objects 
of  her  care  in  this  respect.  For  those,  she  con- 
stantly provided  a  supply  of  hosiery  till  they  were 
seven  years  old ;  and,  after  that,  transferred  her 
attention  to  some  younger  favorite.  In  her  earlier 
days,  when  her  beloved  colonel  could  share  the 
gaieties  of  society,  I  have  been  told  they  both  had 
a  high  relish  for  innocent  mirth,  and  every  species 
of  humorous  pleasantry ;  but  in  my  time  there 
was  a  chastened  gravity  in  her  discourse,  which, 
however,  did  not  repulse  innocent  cheerfulness, 
though  it  dashed  all  manner  of  levity,  and  that 
flippancy  which  great  familiarity  sometimes  en- 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       263 

courages  amongst  young  people,  who  live  much 
together.  Had  Madame,  with  the  same  good 
sense,  the  same  high  principle,  and  general  benevo- 
lence towards  young  people,  lived  in  society  such 
as  is  to  be  met  with  in  Britain,  the  principle  upon 
which  she  acted  would  have  led  her  to  have  en- 
couraged in  such  society  more  gaiety  and  freedom 
of  manners.  As  the  regulated  forms  of  life  in 
Britain  set  bounds  to  the  ease  that  accompanies 
good  breeding,  and  refinement,  generally  diffused, 
supplies  the  place  of  native  delicacy,  where  that  is 
wanting,  a  certain  decent  freedom  is  both  safe  and 
allowable.  But  amid  the  simplicity  of  primitive 
manners,  those  bounds  are  not  so  well  defined. 
Under  these  circumstances,  mirth  is  a  romp,  and 
humor  a  buffoon;  and  both  must  be  kept  within 
strict  limits. 


Chapter  XXXI 

HOSPITALITY  — ACHIEVEMENTS   BY  THE 
NEGROES 

THE  hospitalities  of  this  family  were  so  far 
beyond  their  apparent  income,  that  all 
strangers  were  astonished  at  them.  To  account  for 
this,  it  must  be  observed  that,  in  the  first  place, 
there  was  perhaps  scarce  an  instance  of  a  family 
possessing  such  uncommonly  well  trained,  active, 
and  diligent  slaves  as  that  I  describe.  The  set  that 
were  staid  servants,  when  they  married,  had  some 
of  them  died  off  by  the  time  I  knew  the  family ; 
but  the  principal  roots  from  whence  the  many 
branches,  then  flourishing,  sprung,  yet  remained. 
These  were  two  women,  who  had  come  originally 
from  Africa  while  very  young ;  they  were  most  ex- 
cellent servants,  and  the  mothers  or  grand-mothers 
of  the  whole  set,  except  one  white-wooled  negro 
man ;  who,  in  my  time,  sat  by  the  chimney  and 
made  shoes  for  all  the  rest.  The  great  pride  and 
happiness  of  these  sable  matrons  were,  to  bring  up 
their  children  to  dexterity,  diligence,  and  obedience. 
Diana  being  determined  that  Maria's  children  should 
not  excel  hers  in  any  quality,  which  was  a  recom- 
mendation to  favor;  and  Maria  equally  resolved 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        265 

that  her  brood,  in  the  race  of  excellence,  should 
outstrip  Diana's.  Never  was  a  more  fervent  com- 
petition. That  of  Phillis  and  Brunetta,  in  the 
Spectator,  was  a  trifle  to  it;  and  it  was  extremely 
difficult  to  decide  on  their  respective  merits ;  for 
though  Maria's  son  Prince,  cut  down  wood  with 
more  dexterity  and  dispatch  than  any  one  in  the 
province,  the  mighty  Caesar,  son  of  Diana,  cut  down 
wheat  and  threshed  it,  better  than  he.  His  sister 
Betty,  who,  to  her  misfortune,  was  a  beauty  of  her 
kind,  and  possessed  wit  equal  to  her  beauty,  was 
the  best  seamstress  and  laundress,  by  far,  I  have 
ever  known ;  and  plain  unpretending  Rachel,  sister 
to  Prince,  wife  to  Titus,  alias  Tyte,  and  head  cook, 
dressed  dinners  that  might  have  pleased  Apicius. 
I  record  my  old  humble  friends  by  their  real  names, 
because  they  allowedly  stood  at  the  head  of  their 
own  class  ;  and  distinction  of  every  kind  should  be 
respected.  Besides,  when  the  curtain  drops,  or 
indeed  long  before  it  falls,  't  is  perhaps  more  credit- 
able to  have  excelled  in  the  lowest  parts,  than  to 
have  fallen  miserably  short  in  the  higher.  Of  the 
inferior  personages,  in  this  dark  drama  I  have  been 
characterizing,  it  would  be  tedious  to  tell :  suffice 
it,  that  besides  filling  up  all  the  lower  departments 
of  the  household,  and  cultivating  to  the  highest 
advantage  a  most  extensive  farm,  there  was  a  thor- 
oughbred carpenter  and  shoemaker,  and  an  univer- 
sal genius  who  made  canoes,  nets,  and  paddles  ,• 
shod  horses,  mended  implements  of  husbandry, 


266  MEMOIRS     OF 

managed  the  fishing,  in  itself  no  small  department, 
reared  hemp  and  tobacco,  and  spun  both ;  made 
cider,  and  tended  wild  horses,  as  they  call  them ; 
which  it  was  his  province  to  manage  and  to  break. 
For  every  branch  of  the  domestic  economy,  there 
was  a  person  allotted,  educated  for  the  purpose ; 
and  this  society  was  kept  immaculate,  in  the  same 
way  that  the  Quakers  preserve  the  rectitude  of 
theirs  ;  and  indeed,  in  the  only  way  that  any  com- 
munity can  be  preserved  from  corruption ;  when  a 
member  showed  symptoms  of  degeneracy,  he  was 
immediately  expelled,  or  in  other  words,  more  suit- 
able to  this  case,  sold.  Among  the  domestics,  there 
was  such  a  rapid  increase,  in  consequence  of  their 
marrying  very  early,  and  living  comfortably  without 
care,  that  if  they  had  not  been  detached  off  with  the 
young  people  brought  up  in  the  house,  they  would 
have  swarmed  like  an  overstocked  hive. 

The  prevention  of  crimes  was  so  much  attended 
to  in  this  well-regulated  family,  that  there  was  very 
little  punishment  necessary  ;  none  that  I  ever  heard 
of,  but  such  as  Diana  and  Maria  inflicted  on  their 
progeny,  with  a  view  to  prevent  the  dreaded  sen- 
tence of  expulsion ;  notwithstanding  the  petty  rivalry 
between  the  branches  of  the  two  original  stocks, 
intermarriages  between  the  Montagues  and  Capu- 
lets  of  the  kitchen,  which  frequently  took  place, 
and  the  habit  of  living  together  under  the  same 
mild,  though  regular  government,  produced  a  gen- 
eral cordiality  and  affection  among  all  the  members 


AN    AMERICAN     LADY        267 

of  the  family,  who  were  truly  ruled  by  the  law  of 
love :  and  even  those  who  occasionally  differed 
about  trifles,  had  an  unconscious  attachment  to 
each  other,  which  showed  itself  on  all  emergencies. 
Treated  themselves  with  care  and  gentleness,  they 
were  careful,  and  kind,  with  regard  to  the  only 
inferiors  and  dependents  they  had,  the  domestic 
animals.  The  superior  personages  in  the  family, 
had  always  some  good  property  to  mention,  or 
good  saying  to  repeat  of  those  whom  they  cherished 
into  attachment,  and  exalted  into  intelligence ;  while 
they,  in  their  turn,  improved  the  sagacity  of  their 
subject  animals,  by  caressing  and  talking  to  them. 
Let  no  one  laugh  at  this ;  for  whenever  a  man  is  at 
ease  and  unsophisticated,  where  his  native  humanity 
is  not  extinguished  by  want,  or  chilled  by  oppres- 
sion, it  overflows  to  inferior  beings ;  and  improves 
their  instincts,  to  a  degree  incredible  to  those  who 
have  not  witnessed  it.  In  all  mountainous  coun- 
tries, where  man  is  more  free,  more  genuine,  and 
more  divided  into  little  societies  much  detached 
from  others,  and  much  attached  to  each  other,  this 
cordiality  of  sentiment,  this  overflow  of  good  will 
take  place.  The  poet  says, 

"  Humble  love,  and  not  proud  reason, 
Keeps  the  door  of  heaven." 

This  question  must  be  left  for  divines  to  determine  ; 
but  sure  am  I  that  humble  love,  and  not  proud 
reason,  keeps  the  door  of  earthly  happiness,  as  far 


268  MEMOIRS     OF 

as  it  is  attainable.  I  am  not  going,  like  the  admi- 
rable Crichton,  to  make  an  oration  in  praise  of 
ignorance ;  but  a  very  high  degree  of  refinement 
certainly  produces  a  quickness  of  discernment,  a 
niggard  approbation,  and  a  fastidiousness  of  taste, 
that  find  a  thousand  repulsive  and  disgusting  quali- 
ties mingled  with  those  that  excite  our  admiration, 
and  would  (were  we  less  critical)  produce  affection. 
Alas  !  that  the  tree  should  so  literally  impart  the 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil ;  much  evil  and  little 
good.  It  is  time  to  return  from  this  excursion,  to 
the  point  from  which  I  set  out. 

The  Princes  and  Caesars  of  the  Flats  had  as 
much  to  tell  of  the  sagacity  and  attachments  of  the 
animals,  as  their  mistress  related  of  their  own. 
Numberless  anecdotes  that  delighted  me  in  the 
last  century,  I  would  recount;  but  fear  I  should 
not  find  my  audience  of  such  easy  belief  as  I  was  ; 
nor  so  convinced  of  the  integrity  of  my  informers. 
One  circumstance  I  must  mention,  because  I  well 
know  it  to  be  true.  The  colonel  had  a  horse 
which  he  rode  occasionally,  but  which  oftener 
travelled  with  Mrs.  Schuyler  in  an  open  carriage. 
At  particular  times,  when  bringing  home  hay  or 
corn,  they  yoked  Wolf,  for  so  he  was  called,  in 
a  wagon  ;  an  indignity  to  which,  for  a  while,  he 
unwillingly  submitted.  At  length,  knowing  resist- 
ance was  in  vain,  he  had  recourse  to  stratagem  ; 
and  whenever  he  saw  Tyte  marshalling  his  cavalry 
for  service,  he  swam  over  to  the  island ;  the  um- 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        269 

brageous  and  tangled  border  of  which  I  formerly 
mentioned :  there  he  fed  with  fearless  impunity  till 
he  saw  the  boat  approach  ;  whenever  that  happened 
he  plunged  into  the  thicket,  and  led  his  followers 
such  a  chase,  that  they  were  glad  to  give  up  the 
pursuit.  When  he  saw  from  his  retreat  that  the 
work  was  over,  and  the  fields  bare,  he  very  coolly 
returned.  Being,  by  this  time,  rather  old,  and 
a  favorite,  the  colonel  allowed  him  to  be  indulged 
in  his  dislike  to  drudgery.  The  mind  which  is 
at  ease,  neither  stung  by  remorse,  nor  goaded  by 
ambition  or  other  turbulent  passions,  nor  worn  with 
anxiety  for  the  supply  of  daily  wants,  nor  sunk 
into  languor  by  stupid  idleness,  forms  attachments 
and  amusements,  to  which  those  exalted  by  culture 
would  not  stoop,  and  those  crushed  by  want  and 
care  could  not  rise.  Of  this  nature  was  the  attach- 
ment to  the  tame  animals  which  the  domestics 
appropriated  to  themselves,  and  to  the  little  fanci- 
ful gardens  where  they  raised  herbs  or  plants  of 
difficult  culture,  to  sell  and  give  to  their  friends. 
Each  negro  was  indulged  with  his  great  squirrel, 
or  musk  rat;  or  perhaps  his  beaver,  which  he 
tamed  and  attached  to  himself,  by  daily  feeding  and 
caressing  him  in  the  farm-yard.  One  was  sure 
about  all  such  houses,  to  find  these  animals,  in 
whom  their  masters  took  the  highest  pleasure. 
All  these  small  features  of  human  nature  must 
not  be  despised  for  their  minuteness.  To  a  good 
mind  they  afford  consolation. 


270  MEMOIRS 

Science,  directed  by  virtue,  is  a  godlike  enlarge- 
ment of  the  powers  of  human  nature  ;  and  exalted 
rank  is  so  necessary  a  finish  to  the  fabric  of  society, 
and  so  invariable  a  result  from  its  regular  establish- 
ment, that  in  respecting  those,  whom  the  divine 
wisdom  has  set  above  us,  we  perform  a  duty  such 
as  we  expect  from  our  own  inferiors ;  which  helps 
to  support  the  general  order  of  society.  But  so 
very  few  in  proportion  to  the  whole  can  be  enlight- 
ened by  science,  or  exalted  by  situation,  that  a  good 
mind  draws  comfort  from  discovering  even  the 
petty  enjoyments  permitted  to  those  in  the  state 
we  consider  most  abject  and  depressed. 


Chapter  XXXII 

RESOURCES   OF  MADAME  —  PROVINCIAL 
CUSTOMS 

IT  may  appear  extraordinary,  with  so  moderate 
an  income,  as  could  in  those  days  be  derived 
even  from  a  considerable  estate  in  that  country, 
how  Madame  found  means  to  support  that  liberal 
hospitality,  which  they  constantly  exercised.  I 
know  the  utmost  they  could  derive  from  their 
lands,  and  it  was  not  much :  some  money  they 
had,  but  nothing  adequate  to  the  dignity,  simple 
as  it  was,  of  their  style  of  living,  and  the  very 
large  family  they  always  drew  around  them.  But 
with  regard  to  the  plenty,  one  might  almost  call 
it  luxury,  of  their  table,  it  was  supplied  from  a 
variety  of  sources,  that  rendered  it  less  expensive 
than  could  be  imagined.  Indians,  grateful  for  the 
numerous  benefits  they  were  daily  receiving  from 
them,  were  constantly  bringing  the  smaller  game, 
and,  in  winter  and  spring,  loads  of  venison.  Little 
money  passed  from  one  hand  to  another  in  the 
country ;  but  there  was  constantly,  as  there  always 
is  in  primitive  abodes,  before  the  age  of  calculation 
begins,  a  kindly  commerce  of  presents.  The  people 
of  New  York  and  Rhode  Island,  several  of  whom 
were  wont  to  pass  a  part  of  the  summer  with  the 


272  MEMOIRS     OF 

colonel's  family,  were  loaded  with  all  the  produc- 
tions of  the  farm  and  river,  when  they  went  home. 
They  again  never  failed,  at  the  season,  to  send 
a  large  supply  of  oysters,  and  all  other  shell-fish, 
which  at  New  York  abounded ;  besides  great 
quantities  of  tropical  fruit,  which,  from  the  short 
run  between  Jamaica  and  New  York,  were  there 
almost  as  plenty  and  cheap  as  in  their  native  soil. 
Their  farm  yielded  them  abundantly  all  that  in 
general  a  musket  can  supply  ;  and  the  young  rela- 
tives who  grew  up  about  the  house,  were  rarely 
a  day  without  bringing  some  supply  from  the 
wood  or  the  stream.  The  negroes,  whose  business 
lay  frequently  in  the  woods,  never  willingly  went 
there,  or  any  where  else,  without  a  gun,  and  rarely 
came  back  empty  handed.  Presents  of  wine,  then 
a  very  usual  thing  to  send  to  friends  to  whom  you 
wished  to  show  a  mark  of  gratitude,  came  very 
often,  possibly  from  the  friends  of  the  young  people 
who  were  reared  and  instructed  in  that  house  of 
benediction  ;  as  there  were  no  duties  paid  for  the 
entrance  of  any  commodity  there,  wine,  rum,  and 
sugar,  were  cheaper  than  can  easily  be  imagined; 
and  in  cider  they  abounded. 

The  negroes  of  the  three  truly  united  brothers, 
not  having  home  employment  in  winter,  after  pre- 
paring fuel,  used  to  cut  down  trees,  and  carry  them 
to  an  adjoining  saw-mill,  where  in  a  very  short  time, 
they  made  great  quantities  of  planks,  staves,  etc., 
which  is  usually  styled  lumber,  for  the  West  India 


AN     AMERICAN     LADY        273 

market.  And  when  a  ship  load  of  their  flour, 
lumber,  and  salted  provisions  were  accumulated, 
some  relative,  for  their  behoof,  freighted  a  vessel, 
and  went  out  to  the  West  Indies  with  it.  In  this 
Stygian  schooner,  the  departure  of  which  was  always 
looked  forward  to  with  unspeakable  horror,  all  the 
stubborn  or  otherwise  unmanageable  slaves  were 
embarked,  to  be  sold  by  way  of  punishment.  This 
produced  such  salutary  terror,  that  preparing  the 
lading  of  this  fatal  vessel  generally  operated  a  tem- 
porary reform  at  least.  When  its  cargo  was  dis- 
charged in  the  West  Indies,  it  took  in  a  cargo  of 
wine,  rum,  sugar,  coffee,  chocolate,  and  all  other 
West  India  productions,  paying  for  whatever  fell 
short  of  the  value,  and  returning  to  Albany,  sold 
the  surplus  to  their  friends,  after  reserving  to  them- 
selves a  most  liberal  supply  of  all  the  articles  thus 
imported.  Thus  they  had  not  only  a  profusion 
of  all  the  requisites  for  good  house-keeping,  but 
had  it  in  their  power  to  do  what  was  not  unusual 
there  in  wealthy  families,  though  none  carried  it 
so  far  as  these  worthies. 

In  process  of  time,  as  people  multiplied,  when 
a  man  had  eight  or  ten  children  to  settle  in  life, 
and  these  marrying  early,  and  all  their  families 
increasing  fast,  though  they  always  were  considered 
as  equals,  and  each  kept  a  neat  house  and  decent 
outside,  yet  it  might  be  that  some  of  them  were 
far  less  successful  than  others,  in  their  various 
efforts  to  support  their  families ;  but  these  deficien- 

VOL.  I.  —  1 8 


274  MEMOIRS     OF 

cies  were  supplied  in  a  quiet  and  delicate  way,  by 
presents  of  every  thing  a  family  required,  sent  from 
all  their  connections  and  acquaintances;  which, 
where  there  was  a  continual  sending  back  and 
forward  of  sausages,  pigs,  roasting  pieces,  etc.,  from 
one  house  to  another,  excited  little  attention  :  but 
when  aunt's  West  Indian  cargo  arrived  all  the 
families  of  this  description  within  her  reach,  had 
an  ample  boon  sent  them  of  her  new  supply. 

The  same  liberal  spirit  animated  her  sister,  a  very 
excellent  person,  who  was.  married  to  Cornelius 
Cuyler,1  then  mayor  of  Albany ;  who  had  been  a 
most  successful  Indian  trader  in  his  youth,  and  had 
acquired  large  Indian  possessions,  and  carried  on  an 
extensive  commercial  intercourse  with  the  traders  of 
that  day,  bringing  from  Europe  quantities  of  those 
goods  that  best  suited  them,  and  sending  back  their 
peltry  in  exchange;  he  was  not  only  wealthy,  but 
hospitable,  intelligent,  and  liberal-minded,  as  ap- 
peared by  his  attachment  to  the  army ;  which  was, 
in  those  days,  the  distinguishing  feature  of  those 
who  in  knowledge  and  candor  were  beyond  others. 
His  wife  had  the  same  considerate  and  prudent 
generosity,  which  ever  directed  the  humanity  of  her 
sister ;  though,  having  a  large  family,  she  could  not 
carry  it  to  so  great  an  extent. 

If  this  maternal  friend  of  their  mutual  relatives 
could  be  said  to  have  a  preference  among  her  own, 

1  Cornelius  Cuyler  was  the  son  of  Johannes  Cuyler  and  his  wife 
Elsie,  daughter  of  Dirk  Wesselse  Ten  Broeck. 


AN    AMERICAN     LADY        275 

and  her  husband's  relations,  it  was  certainly  to  this 
family.  The  eldest  son  Philip,  who  bore  her  hus- 
band's name,  was  on  that  and  other  accounts,  a 
particular  favorite ;  and  was,  I  think,  as  much  with 
them  in  childhood,  as  his  attention  to  his  education, 
which  was  certainly  the  best  the  province  could 
afford,  would  permit. 

Having  become  distinguished  through  all  the 
northern  provinces,  the  common  people,  and  the  in- 
ferior class  of  the  military,  had  learned  from  the 
Canadians  who  frequented  her  house,  to  call  aunt, 
Madame  Schuyler:  but  by  one  or  other  of  these 
appellations  she  was  universally  known :  and  a 
kindly  custom  prevailed,  for  those  who  were  re- 
ceived into  any  degree  of  intimacy  in  her  family, 
to  address  her  as  their  aunt,  though  not  in  the  least 
related.  This  was  done  oftener  to  her  than  others, 
because  she  excited  more  respect  and  affection ;  but 
it  had  in  some  degree  the  sanction  of  custom.  The 
Albanians  were  sure  to  call  each  other  aunt  or  cousin, 
as  far  as  the  most  strained  construction  would  carry 
those  relations.  To  strangers  they  were  indeed  very 
shy  at  first,  but  extremely  kind ;  when  they  not  only 
proved  themselves  estimable,  but  by  a  condescension 
to  their  customs,  and  acquiring  a  smattering  of  their 
language,  ceased  to  be  strangers,  then  they  were  in 
a  manner  adopted ;  for  the  first  seal  of  cordial 
intimacy  among  the  young  people  was  to  call  each 
other  cousin ;  and  thus  in  an  hour  of  playful  or 
tender  intimacy  I  have  known  it  more  than  once 


276  MEMOIRS     OF 

begin  :  "  I  think  you  like  me  well  enough,  and  I 
am  sure  I  like  you  very  well ;  come,  why  should 
not  we  be  cousins  ?  "  "  I  am  sure  I  should  like 
very  well  to  be  your  cousin,  for  I  have  no  cousins 
of  my  own  where  I  can  reach  them."  "  Well,  then 
you  shall  be  my  cousin,  for  ever  and  ever."  In 
this  uncouth  language,  and  in  this  artless  manner, 
were  these  leagues  of  amity  commenced.  Such  an 
intimacy  was  never  formed  unless  the  object  of  it 
were  a  kind  of  favorite  with  the  parents,  who  im- 
mediately commenced  uncle  and  aunt  to  the  new 
cousin.  This,  however,  was  a  high  privilege,  only 
to  be  kept  by  fidelity  and  good  conduct.  If  you 
exposed  your  new  cousin's  faults,  or  repeated  her 
minutest  secrets,  or  by  any  other  breach  of  con- 
stancy lost  favor,  it  was  as  bad  as  refusing  a  chal- 
lenge ;  you  were  coldly  received  every  where,  and 
could  never  regain  your  footing  in  society. 

Aunt's  title,  however,  became  current  every  where, 
and  was  most  completely  confirmed  in  the  year  1750, 
when  she  gave  with  more  than  common  solemnity 
a  kind  of  annual  feast,  to  which  the  colonel's  two 
brothers,  and  his  sisters,  aunt's  sister,  Mrs.  Cor- 
nelius Cuyler,  and  their  families,  with  several  other 
young  people  related  to  them,  assembled.  This 
was  not  given  on  a  stated  day,  but  at  a  time  when 
most  of  these  kindred  could  be  collected.  This 
year  I  have  often  heard  my  good  friend  commem- 
orate, as  that  on  which  the  family  stock  of  happi- 
ness felt  the  first  diminution.  The  feast  was  made, 


AN     AMERICAN     LADY        277 

and  attended  by  all  the  collateral  branches,  consist- 
ing of  fifty-two,  who  had  a  claim  by  marriage  or 
descent,  to  call  the  colonel  and  my  friend  uncle  and 
aunt,  besides  their  parents.  Among  these  were 
reckoned  three  or  four  grandchildren  of  their 
brothers.  At  this  grand  gala  there  could  be  no  less 
than  sixty  persons,  but  many  of  them  were  doomed 
to  meet  no  more ;  for  the  next  year  the  small-pox, 
always  peculiarly  mortal  here  (where  it  was  im- 
properly treated  in  the  old  manner),  broke  out  with 
great  virulence,  and  raged  like  a  plague ;  but  none 
of  those  relatives  whom  Mrs.  Schuyler  had  domes- 
ticated suffered  by  it ;  and  the  skill  which  she  had 
acquired  from  the  communications  of  the  military 
surgeons  who  were  wont  to  frequent  her  house, 
enabled  her  to  administer  advice  and  assistance, 
which  essentially  benefited  many  of  the  patients  in 
whom  she  was  particularly  interested  ;  though  even 
her  influence  could  not  prevail  on  people  to  have 
recourse  to  inoculation.  The  patriarchal  feast  of 
the  former  year,  and  the  humane  exertions  of  this, 
made  the  colonel  and  his  consort  appear  so  much 
in  the  light  of  public  benefactors,  that  all  the  young 
regarded  them  with  a  kind  of  filial  reverence,  and 
the  addition  of  uncle  and  aunt  was  become  con- 
firmed and  universal,  and  was  considered  as  an 
honorary  distinction.  The  ravages  which  the  small- 
pox made  this  year  among  their  Mohawk  friends, 
was  a  source  of  deep  concern  to  these  revered  phi- 
lanthropists ;  but  this  was  an  evil  not  to  be  rem- 


278  MEMOIRS 

edied  by  any  ordinary  means.  These  people  being 
accustomed  from  early  childhood  to  anoint  them- 
selves with  bear's  grease,  to  repel  the  innumerable 
tribes  of  noxious  insects  in  summer,  and  to  exclude 
the  extreme  cold  in  winter,  their  pores  are  so  com- 
pletely shut  up,  that  the  small-pox  does  not  rise 
upon  them,  nor  have  they  much  chance  of  recovery 
from  any  acute  disease ;  but,  excepting  the  fatal 
infection  already  mentioned,  they  are  not  subject  to 
any  other  but  the  rheumatism,  unless  in  very  rare 
instances.  The  ravages  of  disease  this  year  operated 
on  their  population  as  a  blow,  which  it  never  re- 
covered ;  and  they  considered  the  small-pox  in  a 
physical,  and  the  use  of  strong  liquors  in  a  moral 
sense,  as  two  plagues  which  we  had  introduced 
among  them,  for  which  our  arts,  our  friendship, 
and  even  our  religion,  were  a  very  inadequate 
recompense. 


Chapter  XXXIII 

FOLLOWERS   OF   THE   ARMY— RESULTING 
INCONVENIENCES 

TO  return  to  the  legion  of  commissaries,  etc. 
These  em-ployments  were  at  first  given  to 
very  inferior  people ;  it  was  seen,  however,  that  as 
the  scale  of  military  operations  and  erections  in- 
creased, these  people  were  enriching  themselves, 
both  at  the  expense  of  the  king  and  the  inhabit- 
ants ;  whom  they  frequently  exasperated  into  in- 
solence, or  resistance,  and  then  used  that  pretext 
to  keep  in  their  own  hands  the  payments  to  which 
these  people  were  entitled.  When  their  wagons 
and  slaves  were  pressed  into  the  service,  it  was 
necessary  to  employ  such  persons  from  the  first. 
The  colonel  and  the  mayor,  and  all  whom  they 
could  influence,  did  all  they  could  to  alleviate  an 
evil  that  could  not  be  prevented,  and  was  daily 
aggravating  disaffection.  They  found,  as  the  im- 
portance of  these  offices  increased,  it  would  con- 
duce more  to  the  public  good,  by  larger  salaries  to 
induce  people  to  accept  them  who  were  gentlemen, 
and  had  that  character  to  support ;  and  who,  being 
acquainted  with  the  people  and  their  language, 
knew  best  how  to  qualify  and  soften,  and  where  to 


280  MEMOIRS     OF 

apply,  so  as  least  to  injure  or  irritate.  Some  young 
men,  belonging  to  the  country,  were  at  length  pre- 
vailed on  to  accept  two  or  three  of  these  offices ; 
which  had  the  happiest  effect,  in  conciliating  and  con- 
quering the  aversion  that  existed  against  the  regulars. 

Among  the  first  of  the  natives  who  engaged 
in  those  difficult  employments,  was  one  of  aunt's 
adopted  sons,  formerly  mentioned;  Philip  Schuyler 
of  the  pasture,1  as  he  was  called,  to  distinguish  him 
from  the  other  nephew ;  who,  had  he  lived,  would 
have  been  the  colonel's  heir.  He  appeared  merely 
a  careless  good  humored  young  man.  Never  was 
any  one  so  little  what  he  seemed,  with  regard  to 
ability,  activity,  and  ambition,  art,  enterprise,  and 
perseverance,  all  of  which  he  possessed  in  an  un- 
common degree,  though  no  man  had  less  the  appear- 
ance of  these  qualities ;  easy,  complying,  and  good 
humored,  the  conversations,  full  of  wisdom  and 
sound  policy,  of  which  he  had  been  a  seemingly 
inattentive  witness,  at  the  Flats,  only  slept  in  his 
recollection,  to  wake  in  full  force  when  called  forth 
by  occasion. 

A  shrewd  and  able  man,  who  was,  I  think,  a 
brigadier 2  in  the  service,  was  appointed  quarter- 
master general,  with  the  entire  superintendence  of 

1  "  Philip  Schuyler  of  the  pasture  "  refers  to  the  future  general.    He 
married  Catharine,  daughter  of  Col.  John  Van  Rensselaer  of  Claverack. 
His  residence  at  this  time  was  south  of  Albany,  overlooking  the  fields 
in  which  the  citizens  pastured  their  cows. 

2  General  Bradstrcet,  who  built  the  house  then  occupied  by  his 
friend,  Philip  Schuyler. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        281 

all  the  boats,  buildings,  etc.,  in  New  York,  the 
Jerseys,  and  Canadian  frontier.  He  had  married, 
when  very  young,  a  daughter  of  Colonel  Rensselaer. 
Having  at  the  time  no  settled  plan  for  the  support 
of  a  young  family,  he  felt  it  incumbent  on  him  to 
make  some  unusual  exertion  for  them.  Colonel 
Schuyler  and  his  consort  not  only  advised  him  to 
accept  an  inferior  employment  in  this  business,  but 
recommended  him  to  the  Brigadier  Bradstreet,  who 
had  the  power  of  disposing  of  such  offices,  which 
were  daily  growing  in  importance.  They  well 
knew  that  he  possessed  qualities  which  might  not 
only  render  him  an  useful  servant  to  the  public, 
but  clear  his  way  to  fortune  and  distinction.  His 
perfect  command  of  temper,  acuteness,  and  dispatch 
in  business,  and  in  the  hour  of  social  enjoyment, 
easily  relapsing  into  all  that  careless  frank  hilarity 
and  indolent  good  humor,  which  seems  the  peculiar 
privilege  of  the  free  and  disencumbered  mind,  active 
and  companionable,  made  him  a  great  acquisition  to 
any  person  under  whom  he  might  happen  to  be 
employed.  This  the  penetration  of  Bradstreet 
soon  discovered ;  and  he  became  not  only  his  sec- 
retary and  deputy,  but  in  a  short  time  after,  his 
ambassador,  as  one  might  say  :  for  before  Philip 
Schuyler  was  twenty-two,  the  general,  as  he  was 
universally  styled,  sent  him  to  England  to  negoti- 
ate some  business  of  importance  with  the  board  of 
trade  and  plantations.  In  the  meanwhile  some 
other  young  men,  natives  of  the  country,  accepted 


282  MEMOIRS    OF 

employments  in  the  same  department,  by  this  time 
greatly  extended.  Averse  as  the  country  people 
were  to  the  army,  they  began  to  relish  the  advan- 
tage derived  from  the  money  which  that  body  of 
protectors,  so  much  feared  and  detested,  expended 
among  them.  This  was  more  considerable  than 
might  at  first  be  imagined.  Government  allowed 
provisions  to  the  troops  serving  in  America ;  with- 
out which  they  could  not  indeed  have  proceeded 
through  an  uninhabited  country;  where  even  in 
such  places  as  were  inhabited,  there  were  no  regular 
markets,  no  competition  for  supply;  nothing  but 
exorbitant  prices  could  tempt  those  people  who 
were  not  poor,  and  found  a  ready  market  for  all 
their  produce  in  the  West-Indies.  Now  having  a 
regular  supply  of  such  provisions  as  are  furnished 
to  the  fleet,  they  had  no  occasion  to  lay  out  their 
money  for  such  things;  and  rather  purchased  the 
produce  of  the  country,  liquors,  etc.,  for  which  the 
natives  took  care  to  make  them  pay  very  high ;  an 
evil  which  the  Schuylers  moderated  as  much  as 
possible,  though  they  could  not  check  it  entirely. 
This  provision  system  was  a  very  great,  though 
necessary  evil;  for  it  multiplied  contractors,  com- 
missaries and  store-keepers  without  end.  At  a 
distance  from  the  source  of  authority,  abuses  in- 
crease, and  redress  becomes  more  difficult ;  which 
is  of  itself  a  sufficient  argument  against  the  exten- 
sion of  dominion.  Many  of  those  new  comers 
were  ambiguous  characters,  originally  from  the  old 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        283 

country  (as  expatriated  Britons  fondly  call  their 
native  land),  but  little  known  in  this,  and  not 
happy  specimens  of  that  they  had  left.  These 
satellites  of  delegated  power  had  all  the  insolence 
of  office,  and  all  that  avidity  of  gain,  which  a  sudden 
rise  of  circumstances  creates  in  low  and  unprincipled 
minds  ;  and  they,  from  the  nature  of  their  employ- 
ment, and  the  difficulty  of  getting  provisions  trans- 
ported from  place  to  place,  were  very  frequently 
the  medium  of  that  intercourse  carried  on  between 
the  military  and  the  natives:  and  did  not  by  any 
means  contribute  to  raise  the  British  character  in 
their  estimation. 

I  dwell  the  more  minutely  on  all  these  great, 
though  necessary  evils,  which  invariably  attend  an 
army  in  its  progress  through  a  country  which  is  the 
theatre  of  actual  war,  that  the  reader  may  be  led  to 
set  a  just  value  on  the  privileges  of  this  highly 
favored  region;  which,  sitting  on  many  waters, 
sends  forth  her  thunders  through  the  earth;  and 
while  the  farthest  extremes  of  the  east  and  west 
bend  to  her  dominion,  has  not  for  more  than  half 
a  century  heard  the  sound  of  hostility  within  her 
bounds.  Many  unknown  persons,  who  were  in 
some  way  attached  to  the  army,  and  resolved  to 
live  by  it  in  some  shape,  set  up  as  traders ;  carried 
stores  suited  to  military  consumption  along  with 
them,  and  finally  established  themselves  as  mer- 
chants in  Albany.  Some  of  these  proved  worthy 
characters,  however;  and  intermarrying  with  the 


284  MEMOIRS 

daughters  of  the  citizens,  and  adopting  in  some 
degree  their  sober  manners,  became  in  process  of 
time  estimable  members  of  society.  Others,  and 
indeed  the  most  part  of  them,  rose  like  exhalations, 
and  obtaining  credit  by  dint  of  address  and  assur- 
ance, glittered  for  a  time ;  affecting  showy  and  ex- 
pensive modes  of  living,  and  aping  the  manners  of 
their  patrons.  These,  as  soon  as  peace  diminished 
their  military  establishment,  and  put  an  end  to  that 
ferment  and  fluctuation,  which  the  actual  presence 
of  war  never  fails  to  excite,  burst  like  bubbles  on 
the  surface  of  the  subsiding  waves,  and  astonished 
the  Albanians  with  the  novel  spectacle  of  bank- 
ruptcy and  imprisonment.  All  this  gradually 
wrought  a  change  on  the  face  of  society  ;  yet  such 
was  the  disgust  which  the  imputed  licentiousness, 
foppery,  and  extravagance  of  the  officers,  and  the 
pretensions  unsupported  by  worth  or  knowledge  of 
their  apes  and  followers,  produced,  that  the  young 
persons,  who  first  married  those  ambiguous  new 
comers,  generally  did  so  without  the  consent  of 
their  parents ;  whose  affection  for  their  children, 
however,  soon  reconciled  them. 


Chapter  XXXIV 

ARRIVAL   OF  A  NEW   REGIMENT  — DOMINE 
FRIELINGHUYSEN 

A  REGIMENT  came  to  town  about  this  time, 
the  superior  officers  of  which  were  younger, 
more  gay,  and  less  amenable  to  good  counsel  than 
those  who  used  to  command  the  troops,  which  had 
formerly  been  placed  on  this  station.  They  paid 
their  visits  at  the  Flats,  and  were  received ;  but  not 
as  usual,  cordially  ;  neither  their  manners  nor  morals 
being  calculated  for  that  meridian.  Part  of  the 
Royal  Americans,  or  independent  companies,  had  at 
this  time  possession  of  the  fort;  some  of  these  had 
families  :  and  they  were  in  general  persons  of  decent 
morals,  and  a  moderate  and  judicious  way  of  think- 
ing, who,  though  they  did  not  court  the  society  of 
the  natives,  expressed  no  contempt  for  their  man- 
ners or  opinions.  The  regiment  I  speak  of,  on  the 
contrary  turned  those  plain  burghers  into  the  high- 
est ridicule,  yet  used  every  artifice  to  get  acquainted 
with  them.  They  wished  in  short  to  act  the  part 
of  very  fine  gentlemen  ;  and  the  gay  and  superficial 
in  those  days  were  but  too  apt  to  take  for  their 
model  the  fine  gentlemen  of  the  detestable  old 
comedies  ;  which  good  taste  has  now  very  properly 


286  MEMOIRS    OF 

exploded ;  and  at  which,  in  every  stage  of  society, 
the  uncorrupted  mind  must  have  felt  infinite  dis- 
gust. Yet  forms  arrayed  in  gold  and  scarlet,  and 
rendered  more  imposing  by  an  air  of  command  and 
authority,  occasionally  softened  down  into  gentleness 
and  submission ;  and  by  that  noisy  gaiety  which 
youthful  inexperience  mistakes  for  happiness,  and 
that  flippant  petulance,  which  those  who  knew  not 
much  of  the  language,  and  nothing  at  all  of  the 
world,  mistook  for  wit,  were  very  ensnaring. 
Those  dangerously  accomplished  heroes  made 
their  appearance  at  a  time  when  the  English  lan- 
guage began  to  be  more  generally  understood ;  and 
when  the  pretensions  of  the  merchants,  commis- 
saries, etc.,  to  the  stations  they  occupied  were  no 
longer  dubious.  Those  polished  strangers  now 
began  to  make  a  part  of  general  society.  At  this 
crisis  it  was  that  it  was  found  necessary  to  have 
recourse  to  billets.  The  superior  officers  had  gen- 
erally been  either  received  at  the  Flats,  or  accom- 
modated in  a  large  house  which  the  colonel  had  in 
town.  The  manner  in  which  the  hospitality  of 
that  family  was  exercised,  the  selection  which  they 
made  of  such  as  were  fitted  to  associate  with  the 
young  persons  who  dwelt  under  their  protection, 
always  gave  a  kind  of  tone  to  society ;  and  held  out 
a  light  to  others. 

Madame's  sister,  as  I  before  observed,  was 
married  to  the  respectable  and  intelligent  magis- 
trate, who  administered  justice,  not  only  to  the 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        287 

town,  but  to  the  whole  neighborhood.  In  their 
house,  also,  such  of  the  military  were  received,  and 
entertained,  as  had  the  sanction  of  her  sister's  ap- 
probation. This  judicious  and  equitable  person, 
who  in  the  course  of  trading  in  early  life  upon  the 
lakes,  had  undergone  many  of  the  hardships,  and 
even  dangers,  which  awaited  the  military  in  that 
perilous  path  of  duty,  knew  well  what  they  had  to 
encounter  in  the  defence  of  a  surly  and  self-righted 
race,  who  were  little  inclined  to  show  them  common 
indulgence:  far  less  gratitude.  He  judged  equi- 
tably between  both  parties  ;  and  while  with  the  most 
patriotic  steadiness  he  resisted  every  attempt  of  the 
military  to  seize  anything  with  a  high  hand,  he  set 
the  example  himself,  and  used  every  art  of  persua- 
sion to  induce  his  countrymen  to  every  concession 
that  could  conduce  to  the  ease  and  comfort  of  their 
protectors.  So  far  at  length  he  succeeded,  that 
when  the  regiment  to  which  I  allude  arrived  in 
town,  and  showed  in  general  an  amiable  and  oblig- 
ing disposition,  they  were  quartered  in  different 
houses ;  the  superior  officers  being  lodged  willingly 
by  the  most  respectable  of  the  inhabitants,  such  as, 
not  having  large  families,  had  room  to  accommo- 
date them.  The  colonel  and  Madame  happened, 
at  the  time  of  these  arrangements,  to  be  at  New 
York. 

In  the  meanwhile  society  began  to  assume  a  new 
aspect ;  of  the  satellites,  which  on  various  pretexts, 
official  and  commercial,  had  followed  the  army, 


288  MEMOIRS    OF 

several  had  families,  and  those  began  to  mingle 
more  frequently  with  the  inhabitants  :  who  were  as 
yet  too  simple  to  detect  the  surreptitious  tone  of 
lax  morals  and  second-handed  manners,  which  pre- 
vailed among  many  of  those  who  had  but  very 
lately  climbed  up  to  the  stations  they  held,  and  in 
whose  houses  the  European  modes  and  diversions 
were  to  be  met  with ;  these  were  not  in  the  best 
style,  yet  even  in  that  style  they  began  to  be  relished 
by  some  young  persons,  with  whom  the  power  of 
novelty  prevailed  over  that  of  habit ;  and  in  a  few 
rare  instances,  the  influence  of  the  young  drew  the 
old  into  a  faint  consent  to  these  attempted  innova- 
tions ;  but  with  many  the  resistance  was  not  to  be 
overcome. 

In  this  state  of  matters,  one  guardian  genius 
watched  over  the  community  with  unremitting  vig- 
ilance. From  the  original  settlement  of  the  place 
there  had  been  a  succession  of  good  quiet  clergy- 
men, who  came  from  Holland  to  take  the  command 
of  this  expatriated  colony.  These  good  men  found 
an  easy  charge,  among  a  people  with  whom  the 
external  duties  of  religion  were  settled  habits,  which 
no  one  thought  of  dispensing  with ;  and  where  the 
primitive  state  of  manners,  and  the  constant  occupa- 
tion of  the  mind  in  planting  and  defending  a  terri- 
tory where  everything  was,  as  it  were,  to  be  new 
created,  was  a  preservation  to  the  morals.  Religion 
being  never  branded  with  the  reproach  of  imputed 
hypocrisy,  or  darkened  by  the  frown  of  austere 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       289 

bigotry,  was  venerated  even  by  those  who  were 
content  to  glide  thoughtless  down  the  stream  of 
time,  without  seriously  considering  whither  it  was 
conveying  them  till  sorrow  or  sickness  reminded 
them  of  the  great  purpose  for  which  they  were 
indulged  with  the  privilege  of  existence. 

The  domines,  as  these  people  called  their  min- 
isters, contented  themselves  with  preaching  in  a 
sober  and  moderate  strain  to  the  people ;  and,  liv- 
ing quietly  in  the  retirement  of  their  families,  were 
little  heard  of  but  in  the  pulpit ;  and  they  seemed 
to  consider  a  studious  privacy  as  one  of  their  chief 
duties.  Domine  Frielinghuysen,1  however,  was  not 
contented  with  this  quietude,  which  he  seemed  to 
consider  as  tending  to  languish  into  indifference. 
Ardent  in  his  disposition,  eloquent  in  his  preaching, 
animated  and  zealous  in  his  conversation,  and  frank 

1  Theodorus  Frielinghuysen  was  the  eldest  son  of  Rev.  Jacobus 
Theodoras  Frielinghuysen,  a  native  of  West  Friesland,  who  came 
over  in  1720,  and  settled  in  New  Jersey.  His  five  sons  became  pas- 
tors of  churches,  and  his  two  daughters  married  pastors.  Domine 
Frielinghuysen  came  to  Albany  in  1 746  ;  he  published  a  catechism  in 
the  Dutch  tongue,  the  second  edition  of  which  was  issued  by  Weyman 
in  New  York  in  1748.  His  lot  was  cast  in  the  midst  of  a  violent  con- 
troversy among  the  clergy  on  the  subject  of  ordination,  the  older 
clergy  insisting  upon  the  rite  being  performed  in  Holland.  A  bitter 
dispute  was  carried  on  fifteen  years,  disturbing  the  peace  of  neighbor- 
hoods, dividing  families,  and  rending  the  churches  into  factions. 
Houses  of  worship  were  locked  up,  ministers  were  assaulted  in  the 
discharge  of  their  functions,  and  Sunday  profaned  by  scenes  of  violence 
and  mobs.  The  party  which  opposed  separation  were  called  conferen- 
tie,  the  other  coetus.  The  dispute  was  not  settled  till  177*.  Of  course 
the  domine  was  an  actor  in  the  scene. 

VOL.  i.  — 19 


290  MEMOIRS    OF 

and  popular  in  his  manners,  he  thought  it  his  duty 
to  awaken  in  every  breast  that  slumbering  spirit  of 
devotion,  which  he  considered  as  lulled  by  security, 
or  drooping  in  the  meridian  of  prosperity,  like 
tender  plants  in  the  blaze  of  sunshine.  These  he 
endeavored  to  refresh  by  daily  exhortation,  as  well 
as  by  the  exercise  of  his  public  duties.  Though 
rigid  in  some  of  his  notions,  his  life  was  spotless, 
and  his  concern  for  his  people  warm  and  affection- 
ate ;  his  endeavors  to  amend  and  inspire  them  with 
happier  desires  and  aims,  were  considered  as  the 
labor  of  love,  and  rewarded  by  the  warmest  affec- 
tion, and  the  most  profound  veneration ;  and  what 
to  him  was  of  much  more  value,  by  a  growing 
solicitude  for  the  attainment  of  that  higher  order  of 
excellence  which  it  was  his  delight  to  point  out  to 
them.  But  while  he  thus  incessantly  "allured  to 
brighter  worlds,  and  led  the  way,"  he  might  per- 
haps insensibly  have  acquired  a  taste  of  dominion, 
which  might  make  him  unwilling  to  part  with  any 
portion  of  that  most  desirable  species  of  power, 
which  subjects  to  us,  not  human  actions  only,  but 
the  will  which  directs  them.  A  vulgar  ambition 
contents  itself  with  power  to  command  obedience, 
but  the  more  exalted  and  refined  ambition  aims  at  a 
domination  over  mind.  Hence  the  leaders  of  a 
sect,  or  even  those  who  have  powers  to  awake  the 
dying  embers  of  pious  fervor,  sway  the  hearts  of 
their  followers  in  a  manner  far  more  gratifying  to 
them,  than  any  enjoyment  to  be  derived  from  tern- 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        291 

poral  power.  That  this  desire  should  unconsciously 
gain  ground  in  a  virtuous  and  ardent  mind,  is  not 
wonderful ;  when  one  considers  how  the  best  pro- 
pensities of  the  human  heart  are  flattered,  by  sup- 
posing that  we  only  sway  the  minds  of  others,  to 
incline  them  to  the  paths  of  peace  and  happiness, 
and  derive  no  other  advantage  from  this  tacit  sov- 
ereignty, but  that  of  seeing  those  objects  of  affec- 
tionate solicitude  grow  wiser  and  better. 

To  return  to  the  apostolic  and  much  beloved 
Frielinghuysen.  The  progress  which  this  regiment 
made  in  the  good  graces  of  his  flock,  and  the  gradual 
assimilation  to  English  manners  of  a  very  inferior 
standard,  alarmed  and  grieved  the  good  man  not  a 
little ;  and  the  intelligence  he  received  from  some 
of  the  elders  of  his  church,  who  had  the  honor  of 
lodging  the  more  dissipated  subalterns,  did  not  ad- 
minister much  comfort  to  him.  By  this  time  the 
Anglomania  was  beginning  to  spread.  A  sect  arose 
among  the  young  people,  who  seemed  resolved  to 
assume  a  lighter  style  of  dress  and  manners,  and  to 
borrow  their  taste  in  those  respects  from  their  new 
friends.  This  bade  fair  soon  to  undo  all  the  good 
pastor's  labors.  The  evil  was  daily  growing ;  and 
what,  alas,  could  Domine  Frielinghuysen  do  but 
preach  !  This  he  did  earnestly,  and  even  angrily,  but 
in  vain.  Many  were  exasperated  but  none  reclaimed. 
The  good  domine,  however,  had  those  who  shared 
his  sorrows  and  resentments;  the  elder  and  wiser 
heads  of  families,  indeed  a  great  majority  of  the 


292  MEMOIRS 

primitive  inhabitants,  were  steadfast  against  innova- 
tion. The  colonel  of  the  regiment,  who  was  a  man 
of  fashion  and  family,  and  possessed  talents  for  both 
good  and  evil  purposes,  was  young  and  gay ;  and 
being  lodged  in  the  house  of  a  very  wealthy  citizen, 
who  had  before,  in  some  degree,  affected  the  newer 
modes  of  living,  so  captivated  him  with  his  good 
breeding  and  affability,  that  he  was  ready  to  humor 
any  scheme  of  diversion  which  the  colonel  and  his 
associates  proposed.  Under  the  auspices  of  this 
gallant  commander,  balls  began  to  be  concerted, 
and  a  degree  of  flutter  and  frivolity  to  take  place, 
which  was  as  far  from  elegance  as  it  was  from  the 
honest  artless  cheerfulness  of  the  meetings  usual 
among  them.  The  good  domine  more  and  more 
alarmed,  not  content  with  preaching,  now  began  to 
prophesy  ;  but  like  Cassandra,  or  to  speak  as  justly, 
though  less  poetically,  like  his  whole  fraternity,  was 
doomed  always  to  deliver  true  predictions  to  those 
who  never  heeded  them. 


Chapter   XXXV 

PLAYS  ACTED  — DISPLEASURE  OF  THE  DOMINE 

NOW  the  very  ultimatum  of  degeneracy,  in  the 
opinion  of  these  simple  good  people,  was 
approaching;  for  now  the  officers,  encouraged  by 
the  success  of  all  their  former  projects  for  amuse- 
ment, resolved  to  new  fashion  and  enlighten  those 
amiable  novices  whom  their  former  schemes  had 
attracted  within  the  sphere  of  their  influence  ;  and, 
for  this  purpose,  a  private  theatre  was  fitted  up, 
and  preparations  made  for  acting  a  play;  except 
the  Schuylers  and  their  adopted  family,  there  was 
not  perhaps  one  of  the  natives  who  understood 
what  was  meant  by  a  play.  And  by  this  time, 
the  town,  once  so  closely  united  by  intermarriages 
and  numberless  other  ties,  which  could  not  exist 
in  any  other  state  of  society,  were  divided  into  two 
factions :  one  consisting  almost  entirely  of  such  of 
the  younger  class,  as,  having  a  smattering  of  New 
York  education,  and  a  little  more  of  dress  and 
vivacity,  or  perhaps  levity,  than  the  rest,  were 
eager  to  mingle  in  the  society,  and  adopt  the  man- 
ner of  those  strangers.  It  is  but  just,  however,  to 
add,  that  only  a  few  of  the  more  estimable  were 


294  MEMOIRS    OF 

included  in  this  number ;  these,  however  they  might 
have  been  captivated  with  novelty  and  plausibility, 
were  too  much  attached  to  their  older  relations  to 
give  them  pain,  by  an  intimacy  with  people  to 
whom  an  impious  neglect  of  duties  the  most  sacred 
was  generally  imputed,  and  whose  manner  of  treat- 
ing their  inferiors,  at  that  distance  from  the  control 
of  higher  powers,  was  often  such  as  to  justify  the 
imputation  of  cruelty,  which  the  severity  of  military 
punishments  had  given  rise  to.  The  play,  how- 
ever, was  acted  in  a  barn,  and  pretty  well  attended, 
notwithstanding  the  good  domine's  earnest  charges 
to  the  contrary.  It  was  The  Beaux  Stratagem ;  no 
favorable  specimen  of  the  delicacy  or  morality  of 
the  British  theatre ;  and  as  for  the  wit  it  contains, 
very  little  of  that  was  level  to  the  comprehension 
of  the  novices  who  were  there  first  initiated  into  a 
knowledge  of  the  magic  of  the  scene,  yet  they 
"  laughed  consumedly,"  as  Scrub  says,  and  actually 
did  so,  "  because  they  were  talking  of  him."  They 
laughed  at  Scrub's  gestures  and  appearance;  and 
they  laughed  very  heartily  at  seeing  the  gay  young 
ensigns,  whom  they  had  been  used  to  dance  with, 
flirting  fans,  displaying  great  hoops,  and,  with 
painted  cheeks  and  colored  eye-brows,  sailing  about 
in  female  habiliments.  This  was  a  jest  palpable 
and  level  to  every  understanding  ;  and  it  was  not 
only  an  excellent  good  one,  but  lasted  a  long  while ; 
for  every  time  they  looked  at  them  when  restored 
to  their  own  habits,  they  laughed  anew  at  the  recol- 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        295 

lection  of  their  late  masquerade.  "It  is  much," 
says  FalstafF,  "  that  a  lie  with  a  grave  face,  and  a 
jest  with  a  sad  brow,  will  do  with  a  fellow  who 
never  had  the  ache  in  his  shoulders."  One  need 
only  look  back  to  the  first  rude  efforts  at  comic 
humor  which  delighted  our  fathers,  to  know  what 
gross  and  feeble  jests  amuse  the  mind,  as  yet  a 
stranger  to  refinement.  The  loud  and  artless  mirth 
so  easily  excited  in  a  good-humored  child,  the 
naivete  of  its  odd  questions  and  ignorant  wonder, 
which  delight  us  while  associated  with  innocence 
and  simplicity,  would  provoke  the  utmost  disgust 
if  we  met  with  them  where  we  look  for  intelligence 
and  decorous  observances.  The  simplicity  of  primi- 
tive manners,  in  what  regards  the  petty  amusements, 
and  minute  attentions,  to  which  we  have  become  ac- 
customed, is  exactly  tantamount  to  that  of  childhood ; 
it  is  a  thing  which,  in  our  state  of  society,  we  have  no 
idea  of.  Those  who  are  from  their  depressed  situa- 
tion ignorant  of  the  forms  of  polished  life,  know, 
at  least,  that  such  exist;  and  either  awkwardly 
imitate  them,  or  carefully  avoid  committing  them- 
selves, by  betraying  their  ignorance.  Here,  while 
this  simplicity  (which  by  the  bye,  was  no  more 
vulgar  than  that  of  Shakespeare's  Miranda),  with 
its  concomitant  purity,  continued  unbroken  by 
foreign  modes,  it  had  all  the  charm  of  undesigning 
childhood  ;  but  when  half  education  and  ill  sup- 
ported pretensions  took  place  of  this  sweet  attrac- 
tion, it  assumed  a  very  different  aspect,  it  was  no 


296  MEMOIRS    OF 

longer  simplicity,  but  vulgarity.  There  are  things 
that  every  one  feels  and  no  one  can  describe ;  and 
this  is  one  of  them. 

But  to  return  to  our  Mirandas  and  their  theat- 
rical heroes  :  the  fame  of  their  exhibitions  went 
abroad,  and  opinions  were  formed  of  them  no  way 
favorable  to  the  actors  or  to  the  audience.  In  this 
region  of  reality,  where  rigid  truth  was  always 
undisguised,  they  had  not  learned  to  distinguish 
between  fiction  and  falsehood.  It  was  said  that  the 
officers,  familiar  with  every  vice  and  every  disguise, 
had  not  only  spent  a  whole  night  in  telling  lies  in 
a  counterfeited  place,  the  reality  of  which  had  never 
existed,  but  that  they  were  themselves  a  lie,  and 
had  degraded  manhood,  and  broke  through  an 
express  prohibition  in  scripture,  by  assuming  female 
habits  ;  that  they  had  not  only  told  lies,  but  cursed 
and  swore  the  whole  night;  and  assumed  the 
characters  of  knaves,  fools,  and  robbers,  which 
every  good  and  wise  man  held  in  detestation,  and 
no  one  would  put  on  unless  they  felt  themselves 
easy  in  them.  Painting  their  faces,  of  all  other 
things,  seemed  most  to  violate  the  Albanian  ideas 
of  decorum,  and  was  looked  upon  as  the  most  flag- 
rant abomination.  Great  and  loud  was  the  out- 
cry produced  by  it.  Little  skilled  in  sophistry, 
and  strangers  to  all  the  arts  "  that  make  the  worse 
appear  the  better  reason,"  the  young  auditors  could 
only  say  "that  indeed  it  was  very  amusing;  made 
them  laugh  heartily,  and  did  harm  to  nobody." 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        297 

So  harmless,  indeed,  and  agreeable  did  this  enter- 
tainment appear  to  the  new  converts  of  fashion, 
that  'The  Recruiting  Officer  was  given  out  for  another 
night,  to  the  great  annoyance  of  M.  Frielinghuysen, 
who  invoked  heaven  and  earth  to  witness  and 
avenge  this  contempt,  not  only  of  his  authority, 
but,  as  he  expressed  it,  of  the  source  from  whence 
it  was  derived.  Such  had  been  the  sanctity  of  this 
good  man's  life,  and  the  laborious  diligence  and 
awful  earnestness  with  which  he  inculcated  the 
doctrines  he  taught,  that  they  had  produced  a  cor- 
respondent effect,  for  the  most  part,  on  the  lives  of 
his  hearers,  and  led  them  to  regard  him  as  the 
next  thing  to  an  evangelist;  accustomed  to  success 
in  all  his  undertakings,  and  to  "  honor,  love,  obedi- 
ence, troops  of  friends,"  and  all  that  gratitude  and 
veneration  can  offer  to  its  most  distinguished  object, 
this  rebellion  against  his  authority,  and  contempt 
of  his  opinion  (once  the  standard  by  which  every 
one's  judgment  was  regulated),  wounded  him  very 
deeply.  The  abhorrence  with  which  he  inspired 
the  parents  of  the  transgressors,  among  whom  were 
many  young  men  of  spirit  and  intelligence,  was  the 
occasion  of  some  family  disagreements,  a  thing 
formerly  scarcely  known.  Those  young  people, 
accustomed  to  regard  their  parents  with  implicit 
reverence,  were  unwilling  to  impute  to  them 
unqualified  harshness,  and  therefore  removed  the 
blame  of  a  conduct  so  unusual  to  their  spiritual 
guide ;  "  and  while  he  thought,  good  easy  man, 


298  MEMOIRS    OF 

full  surely  his  greatness  was  a  ripening,  nipt  his 
root."  Early  one  Monday  morning,  after  the 
domine  had,  on  the  preceding  day,  been  peculiarly 
eloquent  on  the  subject  of  theatrical  amusements, 
and  pernicious  innovations,  some  unknown  person 
left  within  his  door  a  club,  a  pair  of  old  shoes,  a 
crust  of  black  bread,  and  a  dollar.  The  worthy 
pastor  was  puzzled  to  think  what  this  could  mean ; 
but  had  it  too  soon  explained  to  him.  It  was  an 
emblematic  message,  to  signify  the  desire  enter- 
tained of  his  departure.  The  stick  was  to  push 
him  away,  the  shoes  to  wear  on  the  road,  and  the 
bread  and  money  a  provision  for  his  journey.  These 
symbols  appear,  in  former  days,  to  have  been  more 
commonly  used,  and  better  understood  than  at 
present ;  for  instance,  we  find  that  when  Robert 
Bruce,  afterwards  king  of  Scotland,  was  in  a  kind 
of  honorable  capacity  in  the  court  of  England ; 
when  his  friend,  the  earl  of  Gloucester,  discovered 
that  it  was  the  intention  of  the  king  to  imprison 
him  in  the  tower,  lest  he  should  escape  to  Scotland 
and  assert  his  rights,  unwilling  by  word  or  writing 
to  discover  what  had  passed  in  council,  and  at  the 
same  time  desirous  to  save  his  friend,  he  sent  him 
a  pair  of  gilt  spurs  and  twelve  crowns,  and  ordered 
the  servant  to  carry  them  to  him  as  returning  what 
he  had  formerly  borrowed  from  him.  This  myste- 
rious gift  and  message  was  immediately  understood ; 
and  proved  the  means  of  restoring  Bruce,  and 
with  him  the  laws  and  liberty  of  his  native  king- 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        299 

dom.  Very  different,  however,  was  the  effect  pro- 
duced by  this  mal  apropos  symbol  of  dislike.  Too 
conscious,  and  too  fond  of  popularity,  the  pastor 
languished  under  a  sense  of  imaginary  degradation, 
grew  jealous,  and  thought  every  one  alienated  from 
him  because  a  few  giddy  young  people  were  stimu- 
lated by  momentary  resentments  to  express  disap- 
probation in  this  vague  and  dubious  manner. 
Thus,  insensibly,  do  vanity  and  self-opinion  mingle 
with  our  highest  duties.  Had  the  domine,  satisfied 
with  the  testimony  of  a  good  conscience,  gone  on 
in  the  exercise  of  his  duty,  and  been  above  allowing 
little  personal  resentments  to  mingle  with  his  zeal 
for  what  he  thought  right,  he  might  have  felt  him- 
self far  above  an  insult  of  this  kind  ;  but  he  found 
to  his  cost,  that  "  a  habitation  giddy  and  unsure 
hath  he  that  buildeth  on  the  fickle  heart "  of  the 
unsteady,  wavering  multitude. 


Chapter    XXXVI 

DOMINE  FRIELINGHUYSEN   LEAVES  HIS   PEOPLE 

MADAME  now  returned  to  town  with  the 
colonel ;  and  finding  this  general  disorder 
and  division  of  sentiments  with  regard  to  the  pastor, 
as  well  as  to  the  adoption  of  new  modes,  en- 
deavored, with  her  usual  good  sense,  to  moderate 
and  heal.  She  was  always  of  opinion  that  the 
increase  of  wealth  should  be  accompanied  with  a 
proportionate  progress  in  refinement  and  intelli- 
gence ;  but  she  had  a  particular  dislike  to  people's 
forsaking  a  respectable  plainness  of  dress  and  man- 
ners for  mere  imperfect  imitation,  and  inelegant 
finery.  She  knew  too  well  the  progress  of  society 
to  expect,  that,  as  it  grew  wealthy  and  numerous, 
it  would  retain  its  pristine  purity ;  but  then  she 
preferred  a  "  gradual  abolition  "  of  old  habits,  that 
people,  as  they  receded  from  their  original  modes 
of  thinking  and  living,  might  rather  become  simply 
elegant,  than  tawdrily  fine ;  and  though  she  all 
along  wished,  in  every  possible  way,  to  promote 
the  comfort  of  the  brave  men  to  whom  the  country 
owed  so  much,  she  by  no  means  thought  an  indis- 
criminate admission  of  those  strangers  among  the 
youth  of  the  place,  so  unpractised  in  the  ways 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       301 

of  the  world,  an  advisable  measure  ;  she  was  par- 
ticularly displeased  with  the  person  in  whose  house 
the  colonel  of  the  regiment  lodged,  for  so  entirely 
domesticating  a  showy  stranger,  of  whose  real 
character  he  knew  so  little.  Liberal  and  judicious 
in  her  views,  she  did  not  altogether  approve  the 
austerity  of  the  domine's  opinions,  nor  the  vehe- 
mence of  his  language ;  and,  as  a  Christian,  she 
still  less  approved  his  dejection  and  concern  at  the 
neglect  or  rudeness  of  a  few  thoughtless  young 
persons.  In  vain  the  colonel  and  Madame  soothed 
and  cheered  him  with  counsel  and  kindness  ;  night 
and  day  he  mused  on  the  imagined  insult ;  nor 
could  the  joint  efforts  of  the  most  respectable 
inhabitants  prevent  his  heart  from  being  corroded 
with  the  sense  of  imagined  unkindness.  At  length 
he  took  the  resolution  of  leaving  those  people  so 
dear  to  him,  to  visit  his  friends  in  Holland,  promis- 
ing to  return  in  a  short  time,  whenever  his  health 
was  restored,  and  his  spirits  more  composed.  A 
Dutch  ship  happened  about  this  time  to  touch 
at  New  York,  on  board  of  which  the  domine 
embarked  ;  but  as  the  vessel  belonging  to  Holland 
was  not  expected  to  return,  and  he  did  not,  as  he 
had  promised,  either  write  or  return  in  an  English 
ship,  his  congregation  remained  for  a  great  while 
unsupplied,  while  his  silence  gave  room  for  the 
most  anxious  and  painful  conjectures ;  these  were 
not  soon  removed,  for  the  intercourse  with  Holland 
was  not  frequent  or  direct.  At  length,  however, 


302  MEMOIRS    OF 

the  sad  reality  was  but  too  well  ascertained.  This 
victim  of  lost  popularity  had  appeared  silent  and 
melancholy  to  his  shipmates,  and  walked  constantly 
on  deck.  At  length  he  suddenly  disappeared, 
leaving  it  doubtful  whether  he  had  fallen  over- 
board by  accident,  or  was  prompted  by  despair 
to  plunge  into  eternity.  If  this  latter  was  the 
case,  it  must  have  been  the  consequence  of  a  tem- 
porary fit  of  insanity ;  for  no  man  had  led  a  more 
spotless  life,  and  no  man  was  more  beloved  by 
all  that  were  intimately  known  to  him.  He  was, 
indeed,  before  the  fatal  affront,  which  made  such 
an  undue  impression  on  him,  considered  as  a  bless- 
ing to  the  place ;  and  his  memory  was  so  beloved, 
and  his  fate  so  regretted,  that  this,  in  addition 
to  some  other  occurrences  falling  out  about  the 
same  time,  entirely  turned  the  tide  of  opinion,  and 
rendered  the  thinking  as  well  as  the  violent  party, 
more  averse  to  innovations  than  ever.  Had  the 
Albanians  been  Catholics,  they  would  probably  have 
canonized  Dom.  Frielinghuysen,  whom  they  con- 
sidered as  a  martyr  to  levity  and  innovation.  He 
prophesied  a  great  deal ;  such  prophecy  as  ardent 
and  comprehensive  minds  have  delivered,  without 
any  other  inspiration  but  that  of  the  sound,  strong 
intellect,  which  augurs  the  future  from  a  compari- 
son with  the  past,  and  a  rational  deduction  of 
probable  consequences.  The  affection  that  was 
entertained  for  his  memory  induced  people  to  listen 
to  the  most  romantic  stories  of  his  being  landed 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       303 

on  an  island,  and  become  a  hermit ;  taken  up  into 
a  ship  when  floating  on  the  sea,  into  which  he 
had  accidentally  fallen,  and  carried  to  some  remote 
country,  from  which  he  was  expected  to  return, 
fraught  with  experience  and  faith.  I  remember 
some  of  my  earliest  reveries  to  have  been  occupied 
by  the  mysterious  disappearance  of  this  hard-fated 
pastor.1 

In    the  meanwhile   new   events   were   unfolding 

i  There  is  an  entry  of  a  baptism  by  him  on  the  i4th  October,  1759, 
in  the  church  Doep  Boek,  but  strange  to  say,  there  is  a  letter  in  exist- 
ence, written  on  the  loth  October,  1759,  by  G.  Abeel  of  New  York 
to  his  relatives  in  Albany,  in  which  he  says  that  while  he  was  writing, 
the  ship  in  which  Dom.  Frielinghuysen  had  embarked  was  leaving  the 
port,  and  according  to  custom  the  guns  were  firing  parting  salutes. 
That  on  the  previous  Sunday  he  preached  in  the  new  Dutch  church, 
and  when  he  sat  down,  after  giving  out  the  last  psalm,  the  bench  gave 
way  and  he  fell  to  the  floor,  which  was  universally  regarded  as  a  bad 
omen.  Among  other  gossip  it  was  remarked  that  the  ocean  was  fatal 
to  his  family,  and  the  impression  that  he  would  never  return  pervaded 
the  minds  of  the  people  standing  about  and  discussing  the  matter.  A 
letter  to  his  wife  is  extant,  showing  that  the  domine  was  in  London, 
expecting  to  embark  on  his  return  to  America,  since  when  nothing  is 
known  of  him.  Dr.  Thomas  De  Witt  says  he  went  to  Holland  on 
business  growing  out  of  the  impending  controversy  in  the  church,  con- 
cerning the  catus,  the  ordination  of  the  clergy  5  a  party  insisting  that 
it  was  not  imperative  that  the  candidate  should  go  to  Holland  to  re- 
ceive the  rite  there,  as  had  been  the  practice.  His  child  Eva,  baptized 
5  December,  1756,  was  buried  15  September,  1757  (Munselfs  Annals), 
Another  Eva  was  baptized  10  September,  1758  (Pearson"  s  Early  Set- 
tlers'). These  are  the  only  children  of  Dom.  Frielinghuysen,  that  are 
found  recorded,  and  are  said  to  have  been  grand-children  of  Geertruy 
Isabella  Lydius,  daughter  of  Domine  John  Lydius,  pastor  of  the  church 
1700-9.  Mrs.  Frielinghuysen  was  a  granddaughter  of  Lancaster 
Symes,  an  English  officer,  from  whom  and  other  relatives  she  inherited 
quite  a  fortune  for  the  times.  Office  Secretary  of  State,  Deeds,  XVI. 


jo4  MEMOIRS    OF 

more  fully  to  the  Albanians  the  characters  of  their 
lately  acquired  friends.  Scandal  of  fifty  years  stand- 
ing must  by  this  time  have  become  almost  point- 
less. The  house  where  the  young  colonel,  formerly 
mentioned,  was  billeted,  and  made  his  quarters  good 
by  every  art  of  seductive  courtesy,  was  occupied  by 
a  person  wealthy,  and  somewhat  vain  and  shallow, 
who  had  an  only  daughter ;  I  am  not  certain,  but  I 
think  she  was  his  only  child.  She  was  young,  lively, 
bold,  conceited  and  exceedingly  well-looking.  Art- 
less and  fearless  of  consequences,  this  thoughtless 
creature  saw  every  day  a  person  who  was,  no  doubt, 
as  much  pleased  with  her  as  one  could  be  with  mere 
youth,  beauty,  and  kindness,  animated  by  vivacity, 
and  distinguished  from  her  companions  by  all  the 
embellishments  which  wealth  could  procure  in  that 
unfashioned  quarter ;  his  heart,  however,  was  safe, 
as  will  appear  from  the  sequel.  Madame  foresaw 
the  consequences  likely  to  result  from  an  intimacy 
daily  growing,  where  there  was  little  prudence  on 
the  one  side,  and  as  little  of  that  honor  which 
should  respect  unsuspecting  innocence  on  the 
other.  She  warned  the  family,  but  in  vain  ;  they 
considered  marriage  as  the  worst  consequence  that 
could  ensue ;  and  this  they  could  not  easily  have 
been  reconciled  to,  notwithstanding  the  family  and 
fortune  of  the  lover,  had  not  his  address  and  at- 
tentions charmed  them  into  a  kind  of  tacit  acquies- 
cence ;  for,  as  a  Roman  citizen  in  the  proud  days 
of  the  republic  would  have  refused  his  daughter  to 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       305 

a  king,  an  Albanian,  at  one  period,  would  rather 
have  his  daughter  married  to  the  meanest  of  his 
fellow-citizens,  than  to  a  person,  of  the  highest 
rank  in  the  army,  because  they  thought  a  young 
person,  by  such  a  marriage,  was  not  only  forever 
alienated  from  her  family,  but  from  those  pure 
morals  and  plain  manners,  in  which  they  con- 
sidered the  greatest  possible  happiness  to  exist. 
To  return : 

While  these  gaieties  were  going  on,  and  the  un- 
happy domine  embarking  on  the  voyage  which 
terminated  his  career,  an  order  came  for  the  colonel 
to  march ;  this  was  the  only  commander  who  had 
ever  been  in  town  who  had  not  spent  any  time,  or 
asked  any  counsel  at  the  Flats.  Meanwhile  his 
Calista  (for  such  she  was)  tore  her  hair  in  frantic 
agonies  at  his  departure  ;  not  that  she  in  the  least 
doubted  of  his  returning  soon  to  give  a  public 
sanction  to  their  union,  but  lest  he  should  prove 
a  victim  to  the  war  then  existing;  and  because, 
being  very  impetuous,  and  unaccustomed  to  con- 
trol, the  object  of  her  wishes  had  been  delayed  to 
a  future  period.  In  a  short  time  things  began  to 
assume  a  more  serious  aspect ;  and  her  father  came 
one  day  posting  to  the  Flats,  on  his  way  to  the 
lakes,  seeking  counsel  too  late,  and  requesting  the 
aid  of  their  influence  to  bring  about  a  marriage, 
which  should  cover  the  disgrace  of  his  family. 
They  had  little  hopes  of  his  success,  yet  he  pro- 
ceeded ;  and  finding  the  colonel  deaf  to  all  his  argu- 


VOL.  I.  —  2O 


306  MEMOIRS    OF 

ments,  he  had  recourse  to  entreaty,  and  finally  offered 
to  divest  himself  of  all  but  a  mere  subsistence,  and 
give  him  such  a  fortune  as  was  never  heard  of  in 
that  country.  This,  with  an  angel,  as  the  fond 
father  thought  her,  appeared  irresistible  ;  but  no  ! 
heir  to  a  considerable  fortune  in  his  own  country, 
and  perhaps  inwardly  despising  a  romp,  whom  he 
had  not  considered  from  the  first  as  estimable,  he 
was  not  to  be  soothed  or  bribed  into  compliance. 
The  dejected  father  returned  disconsolate  ;  and  the 
astonishment  and  horror  this  altogether  novel  oc- 
currence occasioned  in  the  town,  was  not  to  be  de- 
scribed. Of  such  a  circumstance  there  was  no 
existing  precedent ;  half  the  city  were  related  to  the 
fair  culprit,  for  penitent  she  could  hardly  be  called. 
This  unexpected  refusal  threw  the  whole  city  into 
consternation.  One  would  have  thought  there  had 
been  an  earthquake  ;  and  all  the  insulted  domine's 
predictions  rose  to  remembrance,  armed  with  aveng- 
ing terrors. 

Many  other  things  occurred  to  justify  the  dom- 
ine's caution  ;  and  the  extreme  reluctance  which 
the  elders  of  the  land  showed  to  all  such  associa- 
tions. All  this  Madame  greatly  lamented,  yet 
could  not  acquit  the  parties  concerned,  whose 
duty  it  was,  either  to  keep  their  daughters  from 
that  society  for  which  their  undisguised  simplicity 
of  heart  unfitted  them,  or  give  them  that  culture 
and  usage  of  life,  which  enables  a  young  person  to 
maintain  a  certain  dignity,  and  to  revolt  at  the  first 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        307 

trespass  on  decorum.  Her  own  proteges  were  in- 
stances of  this  ;  who,  having  their  minds  early  stored 
with  sentiments,  such  as  would  enable  them  truly 
to  estimate  their  own  value,  and  to  judge  of  the 
characters  and  pretensions  of  those  who  conversed 
with  them  ;  all  conducted  themselves  with  the  ut- 
most propriety,  though  daily  mixing  with  strangers, 
and  were  solicited  in  marriage  by  the  first  people  in 
the  province,  who  thought  themselves  happy  to 
select  companions  from  such  a  school  of  intelli- 
gence and  politeness,  where  they  found  beauty  of 
the  first  order,  informed  by  mind,  and  graced  by 
the  most  pleasing  manners. 


PART     TWO 


MEMOIRS 

OP 

AN   AMERICAN    LADY 

Chapter  I 

DEATH   OF   COLONEL   PHILIP  SCHUYLER 

THIS  year  (1757)  was  marked  by  an  event 
that  not  only  clouded  the  future  life  of 
Madame,  but  occasioned  the  deepest  concern  to  the 
whole  province.  Colonel  Schuyler  was  scarcely 
sensible  of  the  decline  of  life,  except  some  attacks 
of  the  rheumatism,  to  which  the  people  of  that 
country  are  peculiarly  subject:  he  enjoyed  sound 
health  and  equal  spirits,  and  had  upon  the  whole, 
from  the  temperance  of  his  habits,  and  the  singular 
equanimity  of  his  mind,  a  more  likely  prospect  of 
prolonging  his  happy  and  useful  life,  than  falls  to 
the  lot  of  most  people.  He  had,  however,  in  very 
cold  weather,  gone  to  town  to  visit  a  relation,  then 
ill  of  a  pleurisy  ;  and  having  sat  a  while  by  the 
invalid,  and  conversed  with  him  both  on  his  worldly 
and  spiritual  affairs,  he  returned  very  thoughtful. 
On  rising  the  next  morning,  he  began  the  day,  as 
had  for  many  years  been  his  custom,  with  singing 


VOL.  II.  —  I 


2  MEMOIRS    OF 

some  verses  of  a  psalm  in  his  closet.  Madame 
observed  that  he  was  interrupted  by  a  most  violent 
fit  of  sneezing ;  this  returned  again  a  little  after, 
when  he  calmly  told  her,  that  he  felt  the  symptoms 
of  a  pleuritic  attack,  which  had  begun  in  the  same 
manner  with  that  of  his  friend;  that  the  event 
might  possibly  prove  fatal ;  but  that  knowing  as 
she  did  how  long  a  period  l  of  more  than  common 
felicity  had  been  granted  to  their  mutual  affection, 
and  with  what  tranquillity  he  was  enabled  to  look 
forward  to  that  event  which  is  common  to  all,  and 
which  would  be  earnestly  desired  if  withheld  ;  he 
expected  of  her  that,  whatever  might  happen,  she 
would  look  back  with  gratitude,  and  forward  with 
hope ;  and  in  the  meantime  honor  his  memory,  and 
her  own  profession  of  faith,  by  continuing  to  live 
in  the  manner  they  had  hitherto  done,  that  he 
might  have  the  comfort  of  thinking  that  his  house 
might  still  be  an  asylum  to  the  helpless  and  the 
stranger,  and  a  desirable  place  of  meeting  to  his 
most  valued  friends ;  this  was  spoken  with  an  un- 
altered countenance,  and  in  a  calm  and  even  tone. 
Madame,  however,  was  alarmed ;  friends  from  all 
quarters  poured  in,  with  the  most  anxious  con- 
cern for  the  event.  By  this  time  there  was  an 
hospital  built  at  Albany  for  the  troops ;  with  a 
regular  medical  establishment.  No  human  aid  was 
wanting,  and  the  composure  of  Madame  astonished 
every  one.  This,  however,  was  founded  on  hope ; 

1  Forty  years.  —  Mrs.  Grant. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY          3 

for  she  never  could  let  herself  imagine  the  danger 
serious,  being  flattered  both  by  the  medical  attend- 
ants, and  the  singular  fortitude  of  the  patient.  He, 
however,  continued  to  arrange  all  things  for  the 
change  he  expected  ;  he  left  his  houses  in  town  and 
country,  his  plate,  and  in  short  all  his  effects,  to  his 
wife,  at  her  sole  disposal;  his  estates  were  finally 
left  to  the  orphan  son  of  his  nephew,  then  a  child 
in  the  family  ;  but  Madame  was  to  enjoy  the  rents 
during  her  life. 

His  negroes,  for  whom  he  had  a  great  affection, 
were  admitted  every  day  to  visit  him  ;  and  with  all 
the  ardor  of  attachment  peculiar  to  that  kind- 
hearted  race,  implored  heaven  day  and  night  for 
his  recovery.  The  day  before  his  death,  he  had 
them  all  called  round  his  bed,  and  in  their  presence 
besought  Madame  that  she  would  upon  no  account 
sell  any  of  them ;  this  request  he  would  not  have 
made  could  he  have  foreseen  the  consequences. 
On  the  fifth  day  of  his  illness  he  quietly  breathed 
his  last ;  having  expressed,  while  he  was  able  to 
articulate,  the  most  perfect  confidence  in  the  mercy 
of  the  God  whom  he  had  diligently  served  and 
entirely  trusted;  and  the  most  tender  attachment 
to  the  friends  he  was  about  to  leave.1 

It  would  be  a  vain  attempt  to  describe  the  sorrow 

i  Col.  Philip  Schuyler  died  February  16,  1758.  By  his  will  he 
divided  his  large  landed  estate  between  his  brothers  and  sisters,  or  their 
heirs.  His  personal  property  and  a  farm  on  the  Mohawk  river,  with 
the  use  of  the  Flats  for  life,  he  gave  to  his  widow. 


4  MEMOIRS    OF 

of  a  family  like  his,  who  had  all  been  accustomed 
from  childhood  to  look  up  to  him  as  the  first  of 
mankind,  and  the  medium  through  which  they  re- 
ceived every  earthly  blessing ;  while  the  serenity  of 
his  wisdom,  the  sweet  and  gentle  cast  of  his  heartfelt 
piety,  and  the  equal  mildness  of  his  temper,  rendered 
him  incapable  of  embittering  obligations ;  so  that 
his  generous  humanity  and  liberal  hospitality,  were 
adorned  by  all  the  graces  that  courtesy  could  add  to 
kindness.  The  public  voice  was  loud  in  its  plaudits 
and  lamentations.  In  the  various  characters  of  a 
patriot,  a  hero,  and  a  saint,  he  was  dear  to  all  the 
friends  of  valor,  humanity,  and  public  spirit ;  while 
his  fervent  loyalty,  and  unvaried  attachment  to  the 
king,  and  the  laws  of  that  country  by  which  his  own 
was  protected,  endeared  him  to  all  the  servants  of 
government;  who  knew  they  never  should  meet  with 
another  equally  able,  or  equally  disposed  to  smooth 
their  way  in  the  paths  of  duty  assigned  to  them. 

To  government  this  loss  would  have  been  irrep- 
arable, had  not  two  singular  and  highly  meritorious 
characters  a  little  before  this  time  made  their  ap- 
pearance, and  by  superiority  of  merit  and  abilities, 
joined  with  integrity  seldom  to  be  met  with  any- 
where, in  some  degree  supplied  the  loss  to  the  pul 
lie.  One  of  these  was  Sir  William  Johnson,  the 
Indian  superintendent,  formerly  mentioned ;  th< 
other  was  Cadwallader  Golden,1  for  a  very  lon| 

1  Cadwallader  Golden  was  born  in  Dunse,  Scotland,  February  17, 
1688  5  died  on  Long  Island,  September  a 8,  1776. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY  5 

period  of  years  lieutenant-governor  (indeed  virtually 
governor)  of  New  York ;  who  in  point  of  political 
sagacity,  and  thorough  knowledge  of  those  he  gov- 
erned, was  fully  capable  to  supply  that  place.  This 
shrewd  and  able  ruler,  whose  origin  I  believe  was 
not  very  easily  traced,  was  said  to  be  a  Scotchman, 
and  had  raised  himself  solely  by  his  merit  to  the 
station  he  held.  In  this  he  maintained  himself  by 
indefatigable  diligence,  rigid  justice,  and  the  most 
perfect  impartiality.  He  neither  sought  to  be  feared 
nor  loved,  but  merely  to  be  esteemed  and  trusted, 
and  thus  fixed  his  power  on  the  broad  foundation 
of  public  utility.  Successive  governors,  little  ac- 
quainted with  the  country,  and  equally  strangers  to 
business,  found  it  convenient  to  leave  the  manage- 
ment with  him ;  who  confessedly  understood  it 
better  than  any  one  else,  and  who  had  no  friends 
but  a  few  personal  ones,  and  no  enemies  but  a  few 
public  ones,  who  envied  his  station.  It  was  very 
extraordinary  to  see  a  man  rule  so  long  and  so 
steadily  where  he  was  merely  and  coldly  esteemed : 
with  so  few  of  the  advantages  that  generally  procure 
success  in  the  world,  without  birth  or  alliance ;  he 
had  not  even  the  recommendation  of  a  pleasing 
appearance,  or  insinuating  address.  He  was  dimin- 
utive, and  somewhat  more  than  high-shouldered ; 
the  contrast  betwixt  the  wealth  of  his  mind,  and  the 
poverty  of  his  outward  appearance,  might  remind 
one  of  ^sop,  or  rather  of  the  faithful  though  ill- 
shaped  herald  of  Ulysses : 


6  MEMOIRS 

"  Erubutes  in  whose  large  mind  alone, 
Ulysses  viewed  the  image  of  his  own." 

Thus  was  it  with  Golden.  Among  the  number  of 
governors  who  succeeded  each  other  in  his  time, 
if  by  chance  one  happened  to  be  a  man  of  ability, 
he  estimated  his  merit  at  its  just  rate  ;  and  what- 
ever original  measure  he  might  find  it  necessary 
to  take  for  the  public  good,  left  the  common  rou- 
tine of  business  in  the  hands  of  that  tried  integrity 
and  experience,  in  which  he  found  them  ;  satisfied 
with  the  state  and  the  popularity  of  governor, 
on  which  the  other  had  not  a  wish  to  encroach. 
Golden,  however,  enriched  his  own  family,  in  a 
manner  on  the  whole  not  objectionable  ;  he  pro- 
cured from  the  successive  governors  various  grants 
of  land,  which,  though  valuable  in  quality,  were 
not,  from  the  remoteness  of  their  situation,  an 
object  of  desire  to  settlers ;  and  purchased  grants 
from  many,  who  had  obtained  the  property  of 
them,  among  which  were  different  governors  and 
military  commanders.  He  allowed  this  mine  of 
future  wealth  to  lie  quietly  ripening  to  its  value, 
till  the  lands  near  it  were,  in  process  of  time, 
settled,  and  it  became  a  desirable  object  to  purchase 
or  hold  on  lease. 


Chapter    II 

MRS.  SCHUYLER' S   ARRANGEMENTS  AND  CON- 
DUCT AFTER  THE   COLONEL'S   DEATH 

THE  mind  of  our  good  aunt,  which  had  never 
before  yielded  to  calamity,  seemed  alto- 
gether subdued  by  the  painful  separation  from  her 
husband.  Never  having  left  her  consort's  bedside, 
or  known  the  refreshment  of  a  quiet  sleep,  during 
his  illness,  she  sunk  at  first  into  a  kind  of  torpor, 
which  her  friends  willingly  mistook  for  the  effects 
of  resignation.  This  was  soon  succeeded  by  the 
most  acute  sorrow,  and  a  dangerous  illness,  the 
consequence  of  her  mental  sufferings.  In  spring 
she  slowly  recovered,  and  endeavored  to  find  con- 
solation in  returning  to  the  regulation  of  her 
family,  and  the  society  of  her  friends,  for  both 
which  she  had  been  for  some  months  disqualified. 
Her  nieces,  the  Miss  Cuylers,  were  a  great  comfort 
to  her,  from  their  affectionate  attention,  and  the 
pleasure  she  took  in  seeing  them  growing  up  to 
be  all  that  her  maternal  affection  could  wish.  In 
the  social  grief  of  Pedrom,1  who  gave  all  his  time 

1  The  colonel's  brother  Peter,  so  called.  —  Mrs.  Grant.  [Query, 
Peteroom,  Uncle  Peter  ?  His  portrait  is  preserved  in  the  mansion  of 
Madame  Schuyler  at  the  Flats,  by  Mr.  Stephen  Schuyler,  the  recent 


8  MEMOIRS    OF 

to  her  during  the  early  part  of  her  widowhood,  she 
also  found  consolation  ;  and  whenever  she  was  able 
to  receive  them,  her  friends  came  from  all  quarters 
to  express  their  sympathy  and  their  respect.  The 
colonel's  heir  and  her  own  eldest  nephew  made, 
with  one  of  her  nieces,  a  part  of  her  family ;  and 
the  necessity  of  attending  to  such  affairs  as  formerly 
lay  within  the  colonel's  province,  served  further  to 
occupy  her  mind;  yet  her  thoughts  continually 
recurred  to  that  loss,  which  she  daily  felt  more 
and  more.  She  had  buried  the  colonel  in  a  spot 
within  a  short  distance  of  his  own  house,  in  which 
he  had  formerly  desired  to  repose ;  that  his  remains 
might  not  quit  a  scene  so  dear  to  him  ;  and  that 
the  place,  rendered  sacred  by  his  ashes,  might  in 
future  be  a  common  sepulture  to  his  family  ;  that 
he  might  in  death,  as  in  life,  be  surrounded  by 
the  objects  of  his  affection  and  beneficence.  This 
consecrated  spot,  about  the  size  of  a  small  flower 
garden,  was  enclosed  for  this  purpose,  and  a  tomb- 
stone, with  a  suitable  inscription  erected  over  the 
grave,  where  this  excellent  person's  relict  proposed 
her  ashes  should  mingle  with  his.1  In  the  mean- 
owner  and  occupant  of  the  premises.  The  portrait  had  been  artisti- 
cally copied  for  the  late  Gen.  John  T.  Cooper,  and  was  among  the  rare 
objects  of  art  at  his  residence  in  Albany]. 

1  From  the  second  bridge  that  spans  the  Erie  canal  north  of  the 
entrance  to  the  Albany  cemetery,  on  the  Watervliet  turnpike,  a  quiet 
lane  leads  to  the  ancient  Schuyler  bouwery,  known  in  history  as  The 
Flats ;  and  nearly  equidistant  between  the  canal  and  the  river,  in  a 
cluster  of  locust  trees,  a  few  rods  north  of  the  lane,  is  the  family  burial 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY  9 

time,  though  by  continually  speaking  of  her  de- 
ceased friend,  she  passed  the  day  without  much 
visible  agitation,  she  had  fallen  into  a  habit  of 
vigilance  ;  rarely  sleeping  till  morning,  and  suffer- 
ing through  the  silent  hours  from  a  periodical 
agony,  for  such  it  might  be  called,  with  which 
she  was  regularly  visited.  She  had  a  confidante 
in  this  secret  suffering ;  a  decent  and  pious  woman, 
who,  on  the  death  of  her  husband,  a  sergeant  in 
the  army,  had  been  received  into  this  family  as 
a  kind  of  upper  domestic ;  and  found  herself  so 
happy,  and  made  herself  so  useful  in  teaching  read- 
ing and  needle-work  to  the  children,  that  she 
still  remained.  This  good  woman  slept  in  aunt's 

ground.  The  earliest  dead  were  buried  in  the  church  on  State  Street, 
or  in  the  graveyard  on  Beaver  and  Hudson  Streets,  now  the  site  of  the 
Middle  Dutch  Church.  The  Schuylers  and  Van  Rensselaers  frequently 
intermarried,  and  several  of  the  former  were  entombed  in  the  Van  Rens- 
selaer  vault.  This  monument  mentioned  by  Mrs.  Grant,  and  alluded  to 
on  a  previous  page,  is  undoubtedly  the  oldest  one  in  the  ground,  as  well 
as  the  most  conspicuous.  Madame  Schuyler' s  remains  were  buried 
by  the  side  of  those  of  her  husband,  but  there  is  no  monument  or 
other  object  to  mark  her  place  of  sepulture.  The  reason  assigned 
for  this  neglect  is,  that  she  left  a  portion  of  her  property  in  such  a  way 
as  to  give  offence  to  some  of  the  heirs,  and  a  question  of  duty  or  a 
sense  of  dissatisfaction  arising  among  the  parties  upon  whom  it  was 
incumbent,  neither  of  them  would  charge  themselves  with  the  under- 
taking. A  large  slab  lies  upon  the  ground  near  that  of  Colonel 
Philip,  of  the  same  size  and  material,  having  a  cavity  in  its  upper 
side,  apparently  designed  for  a  metal  tablet,  which  is  supposed  to  have 
been  abstracted.  There  is  nothing  remaining  upon  it  to  indicate  its 
purpose  ;  but  it  is  traditional  that  it  was  not  designed  for  Madame 
Schuyler.  The  slab  is  now  believed  to  cover  the  dust  of  John  Schuy- 
ler,  Jr.,  the  father  of  General  Schuyler. 


io  MEMOIRS    OF 

room ;  and  when  all  the  family  were  at  rest,  she 
used  to  accompany  her  to  a  small  distance  from 
the  tomb  which  contained  those  remains  so  dear 
to  her.  Madame,  in  the  meantime,  entered  alone 
into  the  hallowed  enclosure,  and  there  indulged 
her  unavailing  sorrow.  This  she  continued  to  do 
for  some  time,  as  she  thought  unobserved ;  but 
being  very  tall,  and  become  large  as  she  advanced 
in  life,  her  figure,  arrayed  in  her  night-clothes, 
was  very  conspicuous,  and  was  on  different  occa- 
sions observed  by  neighbors,  who  occasionally 
passed  by  at  night;  the  consequence  was,  that  it 
was  rumored  that  an  apparition  was  seen  every 
night  near  the  colonel's  grave.  This  came  to  the 
ears  of  the  people  of  the  house,  some  of  whom 
had  the  curiosity  to  watch  at  a  distance,  and  saw 
the  dreaded  form  appear,  and,  as  they  thought, 
vanish.  This  they  carefully  concealed  from  their 
revered  patroness.  Every  one  else  in  the  house, 
however,  heard  it;  and  a  pensive  air  of  awe  and 
mystery  overspread  the  whole  family.  Her  confi- 
dante, however,  told  her  of  it ;  and  the  consequence 
of  this  improper  indulgence  of  sorrow  greatly  in- 
creased the  dislike  which  Madame  had  always 
expressed  for  mystery  and  concealment.  She  was 
unwilling  to  let  a  family,  to  whom  she  had  always 
set  such  an  example  of  self-command,  know  of 
her  indulging  a  weakness  so  unsuitable  to  her 
character  and  time  of  life.  At  the  same  time, 
however,  she  was  resolved  not  to  allow  the  belief 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY          n 

of  a  supernatural  appearance  to  fasten  on  their 
minds ;  unwilling  to  mention  the  subject  herself, 
she  was  forced  to  submit  to  the  humiliation  of 
having  it  revealed  by  her  confidante,  to  quiet  the 
minds  of  the  children  and  domestics,  and  reconcile 
them  to  solitude  and  moonlight. 

Her  mind  was  at  this  time  roused  from  her  own 
peculiar  sorrows,  by  an  alarming  event,  which  dis- 
turbed the  public  tranquillity,  and  awakened  the 
fears  of  the  whole  province,  by  laying  open  the 
western  frontier.  This  was  the  taking  of  Oswego 
by  the  French,  which  fortress  was  the  only  barrier, 
except  the  valor  and  conduct  of  Sir  William  John- 
son and  his  Mohawk  friends,  by  which  the  town 
was  protected  on  that  side.  The  poor  people,  who 
were  driven  by  the  terror  of  this  event  from  the 
settlements  in  that  quarter,  excited  the  sympathy 
of  liberal-minded  persons  :  and  the  interest  which 
she  took  in  their  distresses,  was  one  of  the  first 
things  that  roused  the  attention  of  our  good  aunt 
to  her  wonted  beneficent  exertions.  General  Brad- 
street,  who  had  a  high  respect  for  her  understand- 
ing, and  consulted  her  on  all  emergencies,  had  a 
profound  reverence  for  the  colonel's  memory,  and 
continued  his  intimacy  in  the  family.  The  critical 
situation  of  things  at  this  time,  occasioned  Lord 
Loudon  to  be  sent  out  as  commander  of  the  forces 
in  America.  Madame  received  this  nobleman  when 
he  visited  Albany,  and  gave  him  most  useful  infor- 
mation. He  was  introduced  to  her  by  General  Brad- 


12  MEMOIRS 

street,  whose  power  and  consequence  might  be  said 
to  increase  with  the  disasters  of  the  country;  his 
department  was  a  very  lucrative  one,  and  enabled 
him  first,  greatly  to  enrich  himself,  and  in  process 
of  time,  his  friend  Philip  Schuyler,  who,  from  his 
deputy,  became,  in  a  manner,  his  coadjutor.  Albany 
now  swarmed  with  engineers,  planners,  architects, 
and  boat-builders.  Various  military  characters,  since 
highly  distinguished,  whose  names  I  do  not  recol- 
lect, though  once  familiar  to  me,  obtained  introduc- 
tions to  Madame,  who  began  once  more  to  occupy 
her  mind  with  public  matters,  and  to  open  her  house 
to  the  more  respected  and  well-known  characters 
among  the  military.  Her  brother-in-law,  whom  I 
have  so  often  mentioned  under  the  affectionate  ap- 
pellation of  Pedrom,  by  which  he  was  known  in  the 
family,  being  within  less  than  half  an  hour's  walk, 
spent  much  of  his  time  with  her,  and  received  her 
company.  This  he  was  well  qualified  to  do,  being  a 
person  of  a  comely,  dignified  appearance,  and  frank, 
easy  manners,  inferior  only  to  his  late  brother  in 
depth  of  reflection,  and  comprehension  of  mind. 


Chapter  III 

MOHAWK  INDIANS  —  SIR  WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

BY  this  time  matters  had  gradually  assumed  a 
new  aspect  on  this  great  continent.  The 
settlement  at  Albany  was  no  longer  an  insulated 
region,  ruled  and  defended  by  the  wisdom  and 
courage  diffused  through  the  general  mass  of  the 
inhabitants,  but  begun,  in  the  ordinary  course  of 
things,  to  incorporate  with  the  general  state.  The 
Mohawk  Indians  were  so  engaged  by  treaties  to 
assist  the  army,  in  its  now  regular  operations  to  the 
westward,  that  they  came  less  frequently  to  visit 
Albany.  A  line  of  forts  had,  at  a  prodigious 
expense,  been  erected,  leading  from  Albany  to 
Upper  Canada,  by  the  Mohawk  river,  and  the 
lakes  of  Ontario,  Niagara,  etc.  Many  respectable 
engineers  were  engaged  in  constructing  these ;  some 
of  them  I  remember  were  Swedes,  persons  of  a 
graceful  appearance,  polished  manners,  and  very 
i  correct  conduct.  These  strangers  conducted  mat- 
ters better  than  our  own  countrymen ;  being  more 
accommodating  in  their  manners,  and  better  accus- 
tomed to  a  severe  climate,  and  inconveniences  of 
every  kind.  They  were  frequent  guests  at  the 
Flats,  were  a  pleasing  accession  to  the  society,  and 


i4  MEMOIRS    OF 

performed  their  duty  to  the  public  with  a  degree 
of  honor  and  fidelity  that  checked  abuses  in  others, 
and  rescued  the  service  they  were  engaged  in,  from 
the  reproach  which  it  had  incurred,  in  consequence 
of  those  fungi  of  society  which  had  at  first  intruded 
into  it. 

By  the  advice  of  the  Schuylers,  there  was  now 
on  the  Mohawk  river  a  superintendent  of  Indian 
affairs ;  the  importance  of  which  began  to  be  fully 
understood.  He  was  regularly  appointed,  and 
paid  by  government.  This  was  the  justly  cele- 
brated Sir  William  Johnson,1  who  held  an  office 
difficult  both  to  execute  and  define.  He  might 
indeed  be  called  the  tribune  of  the  Five  Nations : 
whose  claims  he  asserted,  whose  rights  he  protected, 
and  over  whose  minds  he  possessed  a  greater  sway 
than  any  other  individual  had  ever  attained.  He 
was  indeed  calculated  to  conciliate  and  retain  the 
affections  of  this  brave  people  ;  possessing  in  com- 
mon with  them  many  of  those  peculiarities  of  mind 
and  manners,  that  distinguished  them  from  others. 
He  was  an  uncommonly  tall,  well  made  man  :  with 
a  fine  countenance  ;  which,  however,  had  rather  an 
expression  of  dignified  sedateness,  approaching  to 
melancholy.  He  appeared  to  be  taciturn,  never 
wasting  words  on  matters  of  no  importance :  but 
highly  eloquent  when  the  occasion  called  forth  his 
powers.  He  possessed  intuitive  sagacity,  and  the 

1  See  "Life  and  Times  of  Sir  William  Johnson,  Baronet,"  a  vols., 
8vo,  by  William  L.  Stone,  1864. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         15 

most  entire  command  of  temper,  and  of  counte- 
nance. He  did  by  no  means  lose  sight  of  his  own 
interest,  but  on  the  contrary  raised  himself  to 
power  and  wealth,  in  an  open  and  active  manner ; 
not  disdaining  any  honorable  means  of  benefiting 
himself:  but  at  the  same  time  the  bad  policy,  as 
well  as  meanness  of  sacrificing  respectability,  to 
snatching  at  petty  present  advantages,  were  so 
obvious  to  him,  that  he  laid  the  foundation  of  his 
future  prosperity  on  the  broad  and  deep  basis  of 
honorable  dealing,  accompanied  by  the  most  vigi- 
lant attention  to  the  objects  he  had  in  view ;  acting 
so  as,  without  the  least  departure  from  integrity  on 
the  one  hand,  or  inattention  to  his  affairs  on  the 
other,  to  conduct  himself  in  such  a  manner,  as 
gave  an  air  of  magnanimity  to  his  character,  that 
made  him  the  object  of  universal  confidence.  He 
purchased  from  the  Indians  (having  the  grant  con- 
firmed by  his  sovereign)  a  large  and  fertile  tract  of 
land  upon  the  Mohawk  river ;  where,  having  cleared 
and  cultivated  the  ground,  he  built  two  spacious 
and  convenient  places  of  residence  :  known  after- 
wards by  the  names  of  Johnson  castle,  and  Johnson 
hall.  The  first  was  on  a  fine  eminence,  stockaded 
round,  and  slightly  fortified ;  the  last  was  built 
on  the  side  of  the  river,  on  a  most  fertile  and  de- 
lightful plain,  surrounded  with  an  ample  and  well 
cultivated  domain:  and  that  again  encircled  by  Euro- 
pean settlers  ;  who  had  first  come  there  as  architects, 
or  workmen,  and  had  been  induced  by  Sir  William's 


16  MEMOIRS    OF 

liberality,  and  the  singular  beauty  of  the  district,  to 
continue.  His  trade  with  the  Five  Nations  was 
very  much  for  their  advantage ;  he  supplying  them 
on  more  equitable  terms  than  any  trader,  and  not 
indulging  the  excesses  in  regard  to  strong  liquors 
which  others  were  too  easily  induced  to  do.  The 
castle  contained  the  store  in  which  all  goods  were 
laid  up,  which  were  meant  for  the  Indian  traffic, 
and  all  the  peltry  received  in  exchange.  The  hall 
was  his  summer  residence,  and  the  place  round 
which  his  greatest  improvements  were  made.  Here 
this  singular  man  lived  like  a  little  sovereign ;  kept 
an  excellent  table  for  strangers,  and  officers,  whom 
the  course  of  their  duty  now  frequently  led  into 
these  wilds,  and  by  confiding  entirely  on  the  Indians, 
and  treating  them  with  unvaried  truth  and  justice, 
without  ever  yielding  to  solicitation  what  he  had 
once  refused,  he  taught  them  to  repose  entire  con- 
fidence in  him ;  he,  in  his  turn  became  attached  to 
them,  wore  in  winter  almost  entirely  their  dress 
and  ornaments,  and  contracted  a  kind  of  alliance 
with  them;  for  becoming  a  widower  in  the  prime 
of  life,  he  connected  himself  with  an  Indian  maiden, 
daughter  to  a  sachem,  who  possessed  an  uncom- 
monly agreeable  person,  and  good  understanding: 
and  whether  ever  formally  married  to  him  accord- 
ing to  our  usage,  or  not,  contrived  to  live  with  him 
in  great  union  and  affection  all  his  life.  So  perfect 
was  his  dependence  on  those  people,  whom  his 
fortitude  and  other  manly  virtues  had  attached  to 


AN    AMERICAN   LADY          17 

him,  that  when  they  returned  from  their  summer 
excursions,  and  exchanged  the  last  year's  furs  for 
fire-arms,  etc.,  they  used  to  pass  a  few  days  at  the 
castle ;  when  his  family  and  most  of  his  domestics 
were  down  at  the  hall.  There  they  were  all  liber- 
ally entertained  by  their  friend  ;  and  five  hundred 
of  them  have  been  known,  for  nights  together, 
after  drinking  pretty  freely,  to  lie  around  him  on 
the  floor,  while  he  was  the  only  white  person  in  a 
house  containing  great  quantities  of  everything  that 
was  to  them  valuable  or  desirable.  While  Sir 
William  thus  united  in  his  mode  of  life,  the  calm 
urbanity  of  a  liberal  and  extensive  trader,  with  the 
splendid  hospitality,  the  numerous  attendance,  and 
the  plain  though  dignified  manners  of  an  ancient 
baron,  the  female  part  of  his  family  were  educated 
in  a  manner  so  entirely  dissimilar  from  that  of  all 
other  young  people  of  their  sex  and  station,  that  as 
a  matter  of  curiosity,  it  is  worthy  a  recital.  These 
two  young  ladies  inherited,  in  a  great  measure,  the 
personal  advantages  and  strength  of  understanding, 
for  which  their  father  was  so  distinguished.  Their 
mother  dying  when  they  were  young,  bequeathed 
the  care  of  them  to  a  friend.  This  friend  was  the 
widow  of  an  officer  who  had  fallen  in  battle;  I  am 
not  sure  whether  she  was  devout,  and  shunned  the 
world  for  fear  of  its  pollutions,  or  romantic,  and 
despised  its  selfish  bustling  spirit ;  but  so  it  was, 
that  she  seemed  utterly  to  forget  it,  and  devoted 
herself  to  her  fair  pupils.  To  these  she  taught 

VOL.  II.  — 2 


i8  MEMOIRS    OF 

needle-work  of  the  most  elegant  and  ingenious 
kinds,  reading  and  writing ;  thus  quietly  passed  their 
childhood ;  their  monitress  not  taking  the  smallest 
concern  in  family  management,  nor  indeed  the  least 
interest  in  any  worldly  thing  but  themselves  ;  far 
less  did  she  inquire  about  the  fashions  or  diversions 
which  prevailed  in  a  world  she  had  renounced  ; 
and  from  which  she  seemed  to  wish  her  pupils  to 
remain  for  ever  estranged.  Never  was  anything  so 
uniform  as  their  dress ;  their  occupations,  and  the 
general  tenor  of  their  lives.  In  the  morning  they 
rose  early,  read  their  Prayer-Book,  I  believe,  but 
certainly  their  Bible,  fed  their  birds,  tended  their 
flowers,  and  breakfasted ;  then  were  employed  some 
hours  with  unwearied  perseverance,  at  fine  needle- 
work, for  the  ornamental  parts  of  dress,  which  were 
the  fashion  of  the  day,  without  knowing  to  what 
use  they  were  to  be  put,  as  they  never  wore  them ; 
and  had  not  at  the  age  of  sixteen  ever  seen  a  lady, 
excepting  each  other  and  their  governess ;  they 
then  read,  as  long  as  they  chose,  the  voluminous 
romances  of  the  last  century  ;  of  which  their  friend 
had  an  ample  collection,  or  Rollin's  ancient  history, 
the  only  books  they  had  ever  seen  ;  after  dinner 
they,  regularly  in  summer,  took  a  long  walk ;  or 
an  excursion  in  the  sledge,  in  winter,  with  their 
friend  :  and  then  returned  and  resumed  their  wonted 
occupations,  with  the  sole  variation  of  a  stroll  in 
the  garden  in  summer,  and  a  game  at  chess,  or 
shuttlecock,  in  winter.  Their  dress  was  to  the 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY          19 

full  as  simple  and  uniform  as  everything  else  ;  they 
wore  wrappers  of  the  finest  chintz,  and  green  silk 
petticoats ;  and  this  the  whole  year  round  without 
variation.  Their  hair,  which  was  long  and  beauti- 
ful, was  tied  behind  with  a  simple  ribbon ;  a  large 
calash  shaded  each  from  the  sun,  and  in  winter  they 
had  long  scarlet  mantles  that  covered  them  from 
head  to  foot.  Their  father  did  not  live  with  them, 
but  visited  them  every  day  in  their  apartment. 
This  innocent  and  uniform  life  they  led,  till  the 
death  of  their  monitress ;  which  happened  when 
the  eldest  was  not  quite  seventeen.  On  some 
future  occasion  I  shall  satisfy  the  curiosity  which 
this  short  but  faithful  account  of  these  amiable 
recluses  has  possibly  excited.1 

1  These  ladies  married  officers,  who  in  succession  lived  as  aid-de- 
camps with  their  father.  Their  manners  soon  grew  easy  ;  they  readily 
acquired  the  habits  of  society,  and  made  excellent  wives.  — Mrs.  Grant. 


Chapter   IV 

GENERAL   ABERCROMBIE  — DEATH   OF 
LORD   HOWE 

I   MUST  now  return  to  Albany,  and  to  the  pro- 
jected expedition. 

General  Abercrombie,  who  commanded  on  the 
northern  lakes,  was  a  brave  and  able  man,  though 
rather  too  much  attached  to  the  military  schools  of 
those  days,  to  accommodate  himself  to  the  desultory 
and  uncertain  warfare  of  the  woods,  where  sagacity, 
ready  presence  of  mind,  joined  with  the  utmost 
caution,  and  condescension  of  opinion  to  our  Indian 
allies,  was  of  infinitely  more  consequence  than  rules 
and  tactics,  which  were  mere  shackles  and  incum- 
brances  in  this  contention,  with  difficulties  and  per- 
plexities more  harassing  than  mere  danger.  Indeed 
when  an  ambuscade  or  sudden  onset  was  followed 
by  defeat,  here  (as  in  Braddock's  case)  the  result 
reminded  one  of  the  rout  of  Absalom's  army ; 
where,  we  are  told,  the  wood  devoured  more  than 
the  sword.  The  general  was  a  frequent  guest  with 
Madame,  when  the  nature  of  his  command  would 
permit  him  to  relax  from  the  duties  that  occupied 
him.  He  had  his  men  encamped  below  Albany, 
in  that  great  field  which  I  have  formerly  described, 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY          21 

as  the  common  pasture  for  the  town.  Many  of 
the  officers  were  quartered  in  the  fort  and  town ; 
but  Lord  Howe  always  lay  in  his  tent,  with  the 
regiment  which  he  commanded;  and  which  he 
modelled  in  such  a  manner,  that  they  were  ever 
after  considered  as  an  example  to  the  whole  Ameri- 
can army ;  who  gloried  in  adopting  all  those  rigid, 
yet  salutary  regulations,  to  which  this  young  hero 
readily  submitted,  to  enforce  his  commands  by  his 
example. 

Above  the  pedantry  of  holding  up  standards  of 
military  rules,  where  it  was  impossible  to  practise 
them,  and  the  narrow  spirit  of  preferring  the  modes 
of  his  own  country  to  those  proved  by  experience 
to  suit  that  in  which  he  was  to  act,  Lord  Howe 
laid  aside  all  pride  and  prejudice,  and  gratefully 
accepted  counsel  from  those  whom  he  knew  to  be 
best  qualified  to  direct  them.  Madame  was  de- 
lighted with  the  calm  steadiness  with  which  he 
carried  through  the  austere  rules  which  he  found 
it  necessary  to  lay  down.  In  the  first  place  he  for- 
bade all  displays  of  gold  and  scarlet,  in  the  rugged 
march  they  were  about  to  undertake,  and  set  the 
example  by  wearing  himself  an  ammunition  coat, 
that  is  to  say,  one  of  the  surplus  soldier's  coats  cut 
short.  This  was  a  necessary  precaution ;  because 
in  the  woods,  the  hostile  Indians,  who  started  from 
behind  the  trees,  usually  caught  at  the  long  and 
heavy  skirts  then  worn  by  the  soldiers ;  and  for  the 
same  reason  he  ordered  the  muskets  to  be  short- 


22  MEMOIRS    OF 

ened,  that  they  might  not,  as  on  former  occasions, 
be  snatched  from  behind  by  these  agile  foes.  To 
prevent  the  march  of  his  regiment  from  being 
descried  at  a  distance,  by  the  glittering  of  their 
arms,  the  barrels  of  their  guns  were  all  blackened ; 
and  to  save  them  from  the  tearing  of  bushes,  the 
stings  of  insects,  etc.,  he  set  them  the  example  of 
wearing  leggins,  a  kind  of  buskin  made  of  strong 
woolen  cloth,  formerly  described  as  a  part  of  the 
Indian  dress.  The  greatest  privation  to  the  young 
and  vain  yet  remained.  Hair  well  dressed,  and  in 
great  quantity,  was  then  considered  as  the  greatest 
possible  ornament,  which  those  who  had  it  took  the 
utmost  care  to  display  to  advantage,  and  to  wear  in 
a  bag  or  a  queue,  which  ever  they  fancied.  Lord 
Howe's  was  fine,  and  very  abundant ;  he,  however, 
cropped  it,  and  ordered  every  one  else  to  do  the 
same.  Every  morning  he  rose  very  early,  and  after 
giving  his  orders,  rode  out  to  the  Flats,  breakfasted, 
and  spent  some  time  in  conversing  with  his  friends 
there ;  and  when  in  Albany,  received  all  manner  of 
useful  information  from  the  worthy  magistrate  Cor- 
nelius Cuyler.  Another  point  which  this  young 
Lycurgus  of  the  camp  wished  to  establish,  was  that 
of  not  carrying  anything  that  was  not  absolutely 
necessary.  An  apparatus  of  tables,  chairs,  and  such 
other  luggage  he  thought  highly  absurd,  where 
people  had  to  force  their  way  with  unspeakable 
difficulty,  to  encounter  an  enemy  free  from  all  such 
incumbrances.  The  French  had  long  learnt  how 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         23 

little  convenience  could  be  studied  on  such  occasions 
as  the  present. 

When  his  lordship  got  matters  arranged  to  his 
satisfaction,  he  invited  his  officers  to  dine  with  him 
in  his  tent.  They  gladly  assembled  at  the  hour 
appointed  but  were  surprised  to  see  no  chairs  or 
tables ;  there  were,  however,  bear-skins,  spread  like 
a  carpet.  His  lordship  welcomed  them,  and  sat 
down  on  a  small  log  of  wood ;  they  followed  his 
example ;  and  presently  the  servants  set  down  a 
large  dish  of  pork  and  pease.  His  lordship,  taking 
a  sheath  from  his  pocket,  out  of  which  he  produced 
a  knife  and  fork,  began  to  cut  and  divide  the  meat. 
They  sat  in  a  kind  of  awkward  suspense,  which  he 
interrupted,  by  asking  if  it  were  possible  that  sol- 
diers like  them,  who  had  been  so  long  destined  for 
such  a  service,  should  not  be  provided  with  portable 
implements  of  this  kind ;  and  finally  relieved  them 
from  their  embarrassment,  by  distributing  to  each  a 
case  the  same  as  his  own,  which  he  had  provided 
for  that  purpose.  The  austere  regulations,  and 
constant  self-denial  which  he  imposed  upon  the 
troops  he  commanded,  were  patiently  borne,  be- 
cause he  was  not  only  gentle  in  his  manners,  but 
generous  and  humane  in  a  very  high  degree,  and 
exceedingly  attentive  to  the  health  and  real  necessi- 
ties of  the  soldiery.  Among  many  instances  of 
this,  a  quantity  of  powdered  ginger  was  given  to 
every  man ;  and  the  sergeants  were  ordered  to  see, 
that  when,  in  the  course  of  marching,  the  soldiers 


24  MEMOIRS    OF 

arrived  hot  and  tired  at  the  banks  of  any  stream, 
they  should  not  be  permitted  to  stoop  to  drink,  as 
they  generally  inclined  to  do,  but  obliged  to  lift 
water  in  their  canteens,  and  mix  ginger  with  it. 
This  became  afterwards  a  general  practice ;  and  in 
those  aguish  swamps,  through  which  the  troops 
were  forced  to  march,  was  the  means  of  saving 
many  lives.  Aunt  Schuyler,  as  this  amiable  young 
officer  familiarly  styled  his  maternal  friend,  had  the 
utmost  esteem  for  him ;  and  the  greatest  hope  that 
he  would  at  some  future  period  redress  all  those 
evils  that  had  formerly  impeded  the  service ;  and 
perhaps  plant  the  British  standard  on  the  walls  of 
Quebec.  But  this  honor  another  young  hero  was 
destined  to  achieve ;  whose  virtues  were  to  be  illus- 
trated by  the  splendor  of  victory,  the  only  light  by 
which  the  multitude  can  see  the  merits  of  a  soldier. 
The  Schuylers  regarded  this  expedition  with  a 
mixture  of  doubt  and  misery,  knowing  too  well, 
from  the  sad  retrospect  of  former  failures,  how  little 
valor  and  discipline  availed  where  regular  troops 
had  to  encounter  with  unseen  foes,  and  with  diffi- 
culties arising  from  the  nature  of  the  ground,  for 
which  military  science  afforded  no  remedy.  Of 
General  Abercrombie's  worth  and  valor  they  had 
the  highest  opinion  ;  but  they  had  no  opinion  of 
attacking  an  enemy  so  subtle  and  experienced  on 
their  own  ground,  in  entrenchments,  and  this  they 
feared  he  would  have  the  temerity  to  attempt.  In 
the  meantime  preparations  were  making  for  the 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY          25 

attempt.  The  troops  were  marched  in  detachments 
past  the  Flats,  and  each  detachment  quartered  for 
a  night  on  the  common,  or  in  the  offices.  One  of 
the  first  of  these  was  commanded  by  Lee,  of  frantic 
celebrity,  who  afterwards,  in  the  American  war, 
joined  the  opponents  of  government,  and  was  then 
a  captain  in  the  British  service.  Captain  Lee  had 
neglected  to  bring  the  customary  warrants  for  im- 
pressing horses  and  oxen,  and  procuring  a  supply 
of  various  necessaries,  to  be  paid  for  by  the  agents 
of  government  on  showing  the  usual  documents  ; 
he,  however,  seized  everything  he  wanted  where  he 
could  most  readily  find  it,  as  if  he  were  in  a  con- 
quered country  ;  and  not  content  with  his  violence, 
poured  forth  a  volley  of  execrations  on  those  who 
presumed  to  question  his  right  of  appropriating  for 
his  troops  everything  that  could  be  serviceable  to 
them  :  even  Madame,  accustomed  to  universal  re- 
spect, and  to  be  considered  as  the  friend  and  bene- 
factress of  the  army,  was  not  spared ;  and  the  aids 
which  she  never  failed  to  bestow  on  those  whom 
she  saw  about  to  expose  their  lives  for  the  general 
defence,  were  rudely  demanded,  or  violently  seized. 
Never  did  the  genuine  Christianity  of  this  exalted 
character  shine  more  brightly  than  in  this  exigency ; 
her  countenance  never  altered,  and  she  used  every 
argument  to  restrain  the  rage  of  her  domestics,  and 
the  clamor  of  her  neighbors,  who  were  treated  in 
the  same  manner.  Lee  marched  on,  after  having 
done  all  the  mischief  in  his  power,  and  was  the  next 


26  MEMOIRS    OF 

day  succeeded  by  Lord  Howe,  who  was  indignant 
on  hearing  what  had  happened,  and  astonished  at 
the  calmness  with  which  Madame  bore  the  treat- 
ment she  had  received.  She  soothed  him  by  telling 
him,  that  she  knew  too  well  the  value  of  protection 
from  a  danger  so  imminent,  to  grow  captious  with 
her  deliverers  on  account  of  a  single  instance  of 
irregularity,  and  only  regretted  that  they  should 
have  deprived  her  of  her  wonted  pleasure,  in  freely 
bestowing  whatever  could  advance  the  service,  or 
refresh  the  exhausted  troops.  They  had  a  long  and 
very  serious  conversation  that  night.  In  the  morn- 
ing his  lordship  proposed  setting  out  very  early ; 
but  when  he  rose  was  astonished  to  find  Madame 
waiting,  and  breakfast  ready ;  he  smiled  and  said 
he  would  not  disappoint  her,  as  it  was  hard  to  say 
when  he  might  again  breakfast  with  a  lady.  Im- 
pressed with  an  unaccountable  degree  of  concern 
about  the  fate  of  the  enterprise  in  which  he  was 
embarked,  she  again  repeated  her  counsels  and  her 
cautions  ;  and  when  he  was  about  to  depart,  em- 
braced him  with  the  affection  of  a  mother,  and  shed 
many  tears,  a  weakness  which  she  did  not  often 
give  way  to. 

Meantime,  the  best  prepared  and  disciplined  body 
of  forces  that  had  ever  been  assembled  in  America, 
were  proceeding  on  an  enterprise,  that,  to  the  ex- 
perience and  sagacity  of  the  Schuylers,  appeared  a 
hopeless,  or,  at  least,  a  very  desperate  one.  A  gen- 
eral gloom  overspread  the  family  ;  this,  at  all  times 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         27 

large,  was  now  augmented  by  several  of  the  relations 
both  of  the  colonel  and  Madame,  who  had  visited 
them  at  that  time,  to  be  nearer  the  scene  of  action, 
and  get  the  readiest  and  most  authentic  intelligence ; 
for  the  apprehended  consequence  of  a  defeat  was, 
the  pouring  in  of  the  French  troops  into  the  in- 
terior of  the  province ;  in  which  case  Albany  might 
be  abandoned  to  the  enraged  savages  attending  the 
French  army. 

In  the  afternoon  a  man  was  seen  coming  on 
horseback  from  the  north,  galloping  violently,  with- 
out his  hat.  Pedrom,  as  he  was  familiarly  called, 
the  colonel's  only  surviving  brother,  was  with  her, 
and  ran  instantly  to  inquire,  well  knowing  he  rode 
express.  The  man  galloped  on,  crying  out  that 
Lord  Howe  was  killed.  The  mind  of  our  good 
aunt  had  been  so  engrossed  by  her  anxiety  and  fears 
for  the  event  impending,  and  so  impressed  by  the 
merit  and  magnanimity  of  her  favorite  hero,  that 
her  wonted  firmness  sunk  under  this  stroke,  and 
she  broke  out  into  bitter  lamentations.  This  had 
such  an  effect  on  her  friends  and  domestics,  that 
shrieks  and  sobs  of  anguish  echoed  through  every 
part  of  the  house.  Even  those  who  were  too  young 
or  too  old  to  enter  into  the  public  calamity,  were 
affected  by  the  violent  grief  of  aunt,  who,  in  general, 
had  too  much  self-command  to  let  others  witness 
her  sorrows.  Lord  Howe  was  shot  from  behind  a 
tree,  probably  by  some  Indian  :  and  the  whole  army 
were  inconsolable  for  a  loss  they  too  well  knew  to 


28  MEMOIRS 

be  irreparable.  This  stroke,  however,  they  soon 
found  to  be  "  portent  and  pain,  a  menace  and  a 
blow ;  "  but  this  dark  prospect  was  cheered  for  a 
moment  by  a  deceitful  gleam  of  hope,  which  only 
added  to  the  bitterness  of  disappointment. 


Chapter  V 

DEFEAT   AT   TICONDEROGA  —  GENERAL   LEE  — 
HUMANITY   OF   MADAME 

THE  next  day  they  heard  the  particulars  of 
the  skirmish,  for  it  could  scarce  be  called 
a  regular  engagement,  which  had  proved  fatal  to 
the  young  warrior,  whose  loss  was  so  deeply  felt. 
The  army  had  crossed  Lake  George,  in  safety, 
on  the  fth  of  July,  and  landed  without  opposition. 
They  proceeded  in  four  columns  to  Ticonderoga, 
and  displayed  a  spectacle  unprecedented  in  the  New 
World.  An  army  of  sixteen  thousand  men,  regu- 
lars and  provincials,  with  a  train  of  artillery,  and 
all  the  necessary  provisions  for  an  active  campaign 
or  regular  siege,  followed  by  a  little  fleet  of  bateaux, 
pontoons,  etc.  They  set  out  wrong,  however,  by 
not  having  Indian  guides,  who  are  alone  to  be 
depended  on  in  such  a  place.  In  a  short  time  the 
columns  fell  in  upon  each  other,  and  occasioned 
:  much  confusion.  While  they  marched  on  in  this 
bewildered  manner,  the  advanced  guard  of  the 
French  which  had  retired  before  them,  were  equally 
bewildered,  and  falling  in  with  them  in  this  confu- 
sion, a  skirmish  ensued,  in  which  the  French  lost 
above  three  hundred  men,  and  we,  though  sucess- 


30  MEMOIRS    OF 

ful,  lost  as  much  as  it  was  possible  to  lose,  in  one ; 
for  here  it  was  that  Lord  Howe  fell. 

The  fort  is  in  a  situation  of  peculiar  natural 
strength ;  it  lies  on  a  little  peninsular,  with  Lake 
George  on  one  side,  and  a  narrow  opening,  com- 
municating with  Lake  Champlain,  on  the  other. 
It  is  surrounded  by  water  on  three  sides  ;  and  in 
front  there  is  a  swamp,  very  easily  defended;  and 
where  it  ceased  the  French  had  made  a  breast-work 
above  eight  feet  high ;  not  content  with  this,  they 
had  felled  immense  trees  on  the  spot,  and  laid  them 
heaped  on  each  other,  with  their  branches  outward, 
before  their  works.  In  fine,  there  was  no  place 
on  earth  where  aggression  was  so  difficult,  and 
defence  so  easy,  as  in  these  woods ;  especially 
when,  as  in  this  case,  the  party  to  be  attacked  had 
great  leisure  to  prepare  their  defence.  On  this 
impenetrable  front  they  had  also  a  line  of  cannon 
mounted ;  while  the  difficulty  of  bringing  artillery 
through  this  swampy  ground,  near  enough  to  bear 
upon  the  place,  was  unspeakable.  This  garrison, 
almost  impregnable  from  situation,  was  defended 
by  between  four  and  five  thousand  men.  An  engi- 
neer, sent  to  reconnoitre,  was  of  opinion  that  it 
might  be  attacked  without  waiting  for  the  artillery. 
The  fatal  resolution  was  taken  without  consulting 
those  who  were  best  qualified  to  judge.  An  Indian 
or  native  American  were  here  better  skilled  in  the 
nature  of  the  ground,  and  probabilities  of  success. 
They  knew  better,  in  short,  what  the  spade,  hatchet, 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         31 

or  musket  could  or  could  not  do,  in  such  situations, 
than  the  most  skillful  veteran  from  Europe,  how- 
ever replete  with  military  science.  Indeed,  when 
system  usurps  the  province  of  plain  sound  sense 
in  unknown  exigencies,  the  result  is  seldom  favor- 
able ;  and  this  truth  was  never  more  fatally  demon- 
strated than  in  the  course  of  the  American  war, 
where  an  obstinate  adherence  to  regular  tactics, 
which  do  not  bend  to  time  or  place,  occasioned, 
from  first  to  last,  an  incalculable  waste  of  blood, 
of  treasure,  and  of  personal  courage.  The  reso- 
lution then  was  to  attack  the  enemy  without  loss 
of  time,  and  even  without  waiting  for  artillery. 
Alas  !  "  What  have  not  Britons  dared  ?  " 

I  cannot  enter  into  the  dreadful  detail  of  what 
followed ;  certainly  never  was  infatuation  equal 
to  this.  The  forty-second  regiment  was  then  in 
the  height  of  deserved  reputation ;  in  which  there 
was  not  a  private  man  that  did  not  consider  him- 
self as  rather  above  the  lower  class  of  people, 
and  peculiarly  bound  to  support  the  honor  of  the 
very  singular  corps  to  which  he  belonged.  This 
brave  hard-fated  regiment  was  then  commanded 
by  a  veteran  of  great  experience  and  military  skill, 
Colonel  Gordon  Graham,1  who  had  the  first  point 

1  Gordon  Graham,  of  Dranie,  entered  the  Black  Watch  as  ensign 
a 5  October,  1739  ;  was  promoted  to  lieutenant  24  June,  1743  ;  served 
in  Flanders  and  Fontenoy,  1745  >  obtained  a  company,  1747  ;  was  at 
the  surrender  of  Fort  William  Henry,  1757,  and  wounded  at  Ticon- 
deroga  8  July,  1758.  On  the  death  of  Major  Duncan  Campbell,  he 


32  MEMOIRS    OF 

of  attack  assigned  to  him :  he  was  wounded  at  the 
first  onset.  How  many  this  regiment,  in  particular, 
lost  of  men  and  officers,  I  cannot  now  exactly  say ; 
but  these  were  very  many.  What  I  distinctly 
remember,  having  often  heard  of  it  since,  is,  that,  of 
the  survivors,  every  single  officer  retired  wounded 
off  the  field.  Of  the  fifty-fifth  regiment,  to  which 
my  father  had  newly  been  attached,  ten  officers 
were  killed,  including  all  the  field  officers.  No 
human  beings  could  show  more  determined  courage 
than  this  brave  army  did.  Standing  four  hours 
under  a  constant  discharge  of  cannon  and  musketry 
from  barricades,  on  which  it  was  impossible  for 
them  to  make  the  least  impression.  General  Aber- 
crombie  saw  the  fruitless  waste  of  blood  that  was 
every  hour  increasing,  and  ordered  a  retreat,  which 
was  very  precipitate,  so  much  so,  that  they  crossed 
the  lake  and  regained  their  camp  on  the  other  side 
the  same  night.  Two  thousand  men  were  killed, 
wounded,  or  taken  on  this  disastrous  day.  On 
the  next,  those  most  dangerously  wounded  were 
sent  forward  in  boats,  and  reached  the  Flats  before 
evening ;  they  in  a  manner  brought  (at  least  con- 
firmed) the  news  of  the  defeat.  Madame  had 
her  barn  instantly  fitted  up  into  a  temporary  hos- 
pital, and  a  room  in  her  house  allotted  for  the 

succeeded  to  his  commission  and  made  the  campaign  of  1759,  '60 
under  Amherst  j  served  in  the  West  Indies  in  1762,  when  he  became 
lieutenant-colonel  of  his  regiment.  He  retired  from  the  service 
iz  December,  1770  (Col.  Doc.,  x,  728). 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         33 

surgeon  who  attended  the  patients ;  among  these 
was  Lee,  the  same  insolent  and  rapacious  Lee,  who 
had  insulted  this  general  benefactress,  and  deprived 
her  of  one  of  her  greatest  pleasures,  that  of  giv- 
ing a  share  of  everything  she  had  to  advance 
the  service.  She  treated  him  with  compassion, 
without  adverting,  by  the  least  hint,  to  the  past. 
She  tore  up  her  sheets  and  table  linen  for  bandages, 
and  she  and  her  nieces  were  constantly  employed 
in  attending  and  cheering  the  wounded,  while  all 
her  domestics  were  busied  in  preparing  food  and 
everything  necessary  for  those  unhappy  sufferers. 
Even  Lee  felt  and  acknowledged  the  resistless  force 
of  such  generous  humanity.  He  swore,  in  his 
vehement  manner,  that  he  was  sure  there  would 
be  a  place  reserved  for  Madame  in  heaven,  though 
no  other  woman  should  be  there,  and  that  he 
should  wish  for  nothing  better  than  to  share  her 
final  destiny.  The  active  industrious  beneficence 
she  exercised  at  this  time,  not  only  towards  the 
wounded,  but  the  wretched  widows  and  orphans 
who  had  remained  here,  and  had  lost  their  all 
in  their  husbands  and  parents,  was  beyond  praise. 
Could  I  clearly  recollect  and  arrange  the  anecdotes 
of  this  period,  as  I  have  often  heard  them,  they 
would  of  themselves  fill  a  volume  ;  suffice  it,  that 
such  was  the  veneration  in  which  she  was  held 
in  the  army  after  this  period,  that  I  recollect, 
amongst  the  earliest  impressions  received  in  my 
mind,  that  of  a  profound  reverence  for  Madame 

VOL.   H  —3 


34  MEMOIRS 

as  these  people  were  wont  to  call  her.  Before 
I  ever  saw  her,  I  used  to  think  of  her  as  a  most 
august  personage,  of  a  majestic  presence,  sitting  on 
an  elevated  seat,  and  scattering  bounty  to  wounded 
soldiers,  and  poor  women  and  children. 


Chapter  VI 

THE   FAMILY   OF   MADAME'S  SISTER  — THE 
DEATH   OF   THE   LATTER 

AUNT  found  consolation  for  all  her  sorrows  in 
the  family  of  her  favorite  sister.  The  prom- 
ise of  uncommon  merit,  which  appeared  in  the  ris- 
ing branches  of  that  singularly  fine  family,  was  to 
her  a  peculiar  gratification ;  for  no  mother  could 
love  her  own  children  more  tenderly  than  she  did 
them.  The  two  daughters,  which  were  amongst 
the  eldest,  passed,  by  turns,  much  of  their  time 
with  her,  and  were,  from  their  beauty  and  their 
manners,  the  ornaments  of  her  society  ;  while  their 
good  sense,  ripened  by  being  called  early  into  action, 
made  these  amiable  and  elegant  young  women  more 
a  comfort  and  assistance  than  a  care  or  charge  to 
their  aunt,  at  a  very  early  period.  They  had  four 
brothers  ;  three  of  whom  are  still  living,  and  have, 
through  life,  done  honor  by  their  virtues,  their 
manners,  and  their  conduct,  in  the  most  trying 
exigencies,  to  the  memory  and  example  of  their 
excellent  parents,  as  well  as  to  that  collateral  school 
of  pure  morality,  and  sound  and  genuine  policy,  of 
which  they  shared  the  benefit. 

The  history  of  this  family,  in  the  after  vicissi- 
tudes in  which  the  political  changes  in  their  country 


36  MEMOIRS    OF 

involved  them,  would  furnish  a  very  interesting 
detail,  were  it  allowable  to  offend  the  delicacy  of 
modest  worth,  or  eligible  to  expose  the  depravity 
and  fury  of  enraged  factions.  Of  the  brothers  I 
shall  only  mention,  that  the  third,  in  his  childhood, 
showed  uncommon  fire  and  vivacity  ;  not  seeming 
to  retain  the  smallest  portion  of  that  hereditary 
phlegm  which  could  still  be  easily  traced  through 
many  of  the  settlers  of  this  peculiar  colony.  He 
could  scarce  be  called  an  unlucky  boy,  for  he  never 
did  harm  designedly ;  yet  he  was  so  volatile,  eccen- 
tric and  original  in  the  frolicsome  excursions  of  his 
fancy,  that  many  ludicrous  and  some  serious  con- 
sequences resulted  from  them.  He  showed,  how- 
ever, amidst  all  these  gaieties,  from  a  very  early 
age,  a  steady  and  determined  predilection  towards  a 
military  life,  which  in  due  time  was  indulged,  and 
has  been  since  the  means  of  leading  him  on  to  rank 
and  distinction  in  the  British  service.1  Of  the  eld- 
est brother  I  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  hereafter ; 
the  second  and  youngest  were  zealous  partisans  of 
government  at  the  time  of  the  revolution.  Their 
loyalty  occasioned  the  loss  of  their  fortunes  and 
their  homes  ;  but  their  worth  and  bravery  procured 
them  confidence  and  important  commands  in  that 
painful  service  which  was  carried  on  during  the 
American  war,  at  the  end  of  which  they  were  par- 

1  The  capture  of  Tobago  was  achieved  by  General  Cuyler,  who  had 
for  near  forty  years  been  engaged  in  the  most  active  and  hazardous 
departments  of  the  service.  —  Mrs.  Grant. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         37 

tially  rewarded  by  grants  of  land  in  upper  Canada.1 
Loyalty  and  courage  seem  hereditary  in  this  family. 
Many  sons  of  those  expatriated  brothers  are  now 
serving  their  country  in  different  parts  of  the  em- 
pire, undeterred  by  the  losses  and  sufferings  of  their 
parents  in  the  royal  cause.  It  was  a  marked  dis- 
tinction of  character  to  be  observed  in  the  conduct 
of  aunt's  proteges,  that  though  she  was  equally  at- 
tached to  the  children  of  her  husband's  relations 
and  her  own,  these  latter  only  adopted  her  political 
sentiments,  with  a  single  exception,  which  shall  be 
mentioned  in  its  place. 

The  defeat  at  Ticonderoga  bore  very  hard  upon 
the  mind  of  Madame  ;  public  spirit  was  always  an 
active  principle  in  her  strong  and  reflecting  mind ; 
and  from  the  particular  circumstances  in  which  she 
had  always  been  involved,  her  patriotism  gained 
strength  by  exercise.  The  same  ardent  concern 
for  the  public  good,  which  could  produce  no  other 
effect  but  fruitless  anxiety,  would  be  as  unavailing 
as  unnecessary,  in  our  secure  and  tranquil  state ; 
but  with  her  it  was  an  exercised  and  useful  virtue. 
Her  attachment  to  the  British  nation,  which  was  to 

1  Cornelius  Cuyler,  Jr.,  entered  the  British  army  and  rose  to  the 
rank  of  major-general  5  and  for  distinguished  services  he  was  created 
a  baronet.  Several  of  his  descendants  have  been  prominent  in  military 
and  civil  life,  and  some  are  now  in  the  army.  Abraham  C.  Cuyler 
was  Mayor  of  Albany  1770-77  ;  but  towards  the  close  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary War  he  emigrated  to  Canada,  where  he  died  in  1810.  Philip 
Cuyler,  the  eldest  of  the  three  brothers,  adhered  to  the  patriot  cause, 
and  remained  in  the  country  of  his  birth. 


38  MEMOIRS    OF 

the  very  last  a  ruling  principle  both  of  her  actions 
and  opinions,  contributed  to  embitter  this  blow  to 
her  and  her  family.  The  taking  of  Frontenac  on 
the  western  lakes,  and  the  re-establishment  of  our 
power  in  that  important  quarter,  were  achieved  by 
General  Bradstreet,  whom  Abercrombie  dispatched 
at  the  head  of  three  thousand  provincials.  This 
was  a  cordial  much  wanted  by  all,  and  more  par- 
ticularly gratifying  to  the  family  at  the  Flats,  as  the 
colonel's  nephew,  Philip  Schuyler,  though  his  was 
not  exactly  a  warlike  department,  had  evinced  much 
spirit,  prudence,  and  resolution  during  that  expe- 
dition ;  in  which,  without  publicly  arrogating  com- 
mand, he,  under  Bradstreet  (who  was  indeed  a  very 
able  man),  directed  most  of  the  operations.  In  the 
mind  of  this  extraordinary  person,  qualities,  suited 
to  all  occasions,  lay  dormant  and  unsuspected,  till 
called  forth  by  the  varying  events  of  his  bu$ 
though  not  bustling  life ;  for  he  seemed  to  can 
on  the  plans,  public  and  private,  which  he  execute 
with  superior  ability  and  success,  by  mere  volition. 
No  one  ever  saw  him  appear  hurried,  embarrassed, 
or  agitated.  The  success  of  this  expedition,  anc 
the  rising  distinction  of  her  nephew  Philip, 
some  consolation  to  Madame  for  the  late  disastei 
Still  friendly  and  hospitable,  she  was  as  kindly  dh 
posed  towards  the  British  as  ever,  and  as  indefati- 
gable in  promoting  a  good  understanding  betwt 
them  and  the  natives ;  but  the  army  was  now  on 
larger  scale.  It  was  in  a  manner  regularly 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         39 

ized,  and  more  independent  of  such  aid  as  individu- 
als could  bestow ;  and  the  many  children  educated 
by  her,  or  left  orphans  to  her  care,  became  from 
their  number,  their  marriages,  and  various  pursuits, 
objects  of  more  earnest  solicitude. 

At  this  period  Aunt  Schuyler,  now  everywhere 
spoken  of  by  that  affectionate  designation,  met  with 
a  severe  affliction  in  the  death  of  a  sister, 1  whom  she 
had  always  loved  with  more  than  common  tender- 
ness, and  whose  family  she  considered  in  a  manner 
as  her  own.  This  was  Mrs.  Cuyler,  the  wife  of 
that  able  and  upright  magistrate,  Cornelius  Cuyler, 
of  whose  family  I  have  just  been  giving  some  ac- 
count. Mrs.  Cuyler,  with  a  character  more  gentle 
and  retiring,  possessed  the  good  sense  and  benevo- 
lence for  which  aunt  was  distinguished,  though  her 
sphere  of  action  being  entirely  within  the  limits  of 
her  own  family,  she  could  not  be  so  well  known,  or 
so  much  celebrated.  The  colonel  had  always  had  a 
great  attachment  to  this  valuable  person  ;  which 
still  more  endeared  her  to  his  widow.  She,  how- 
ever, always  found  new  duties  resulting  from  her 
afflictions,  so  that  she  could  not  afford  to  sink 
under  them.  She  now  was  at  pains  to  console  her 
sister's  husband,  who  really  seemed  borne  down  by 
this  stroke ;  and  the  exertions  she  made  for  the 
good  of  his  singularly  promising  family,  kept  her 
mind  occupied. 

1  Mrs.  Cornelius  Cuyler  died  February  ai,  1758. 


Chapter  VII 


FURTHER   SUCCESS   OF   THE   BRITISH   ARMS  — 
A   MISSIONARY—  CORTLANDT  SCHUYLER 

THE  conquest  of  Oswego,  which  was  this  year 
(I759)  retaken  from  the  French  by  General 
Bradstreet,  contributed  to  revive  the  drooping  spirits 
of  the  army  and  the  patriots ;  and  it  was  quickly 
succeeded  by  the  dear-bought  conquest  of  Quebec. 
Though  Madame  had  never  seen  General  Wolfe, 
she  shared  the  general  admiration  of  his  heroism, 
and  the  general  sorrow  for  his  loss,  in  a  very  high 
degree.  She,  too,  was  conscious,  that  the  security 
and  tranquillity  purchased  by  the  conquest  of  Que- 
bec, would,  in  a  manner,  loosen  the  bonds  which 
held  the  colonists  attached  to  a  government  which 
they  only  endured  while  they  required  its  protection. 
This  led  to  consequences  which  she  too  clearly  fore- 
saw. 

The  mind  of  Mrs.  Schuyler,  which  had  beei 
greatly  agitated  by  the  sad  events  of  Ticonderc 
now  began,  in  consequence  of  the  successes, 
become  more  composed,  and  turn  itself  to  object 
of  utility,  as  formerly.  What  she  had  done,  anc 
made  others  do,  for  the  orphans  and  widows  th< 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        41 

had  become  such  in  consequence  of  the  attack  on 
the  lines,  could  scarce  be  credited.  No  one  would 
suppose  a  moderate  fortune  like  hers  could  pos- 
sibly be  equal  to  it.  She  had  at  this  time,  too, 
much  satisfaction  in  seeing  the  respective  churches 
(in  all  which  she  was  deeply  interested),  filled  with 
persons  who  did  honor  to  their  profession.  A 
young  clergyman  named  Westerlo,1  succeeded  Dom- 
ine  Frielinghuysen,  after  an  interval  of  three  or 
four  years,  during  which  the  charge  was  irregularly 
filled.  This  young  man  had  learning,  talent,  and 
urbanity ;  he  had  all  the  sanctity  of  life  and  ani- 
mated eloquence  of  his  predecessor  without  his  love 
of  power,  his  bustling  turn,  or  his  eagerness  for 
popularity  ;  he  was  indeed  a  person  of  very  singular 
merit,  but  studious  and  secluded,  and  unwilling  to 
mix  with  strangers.  To  Madame,  however,  he  was 
open  and  companionable,  and  knew  and  valued  the 
attractions  of  her  conversation.  Dr.  Ogilvie  was 
the  English  Episcopal  minister,  who,  under  the 

1  Rev.  Eilardus  Westerlo  was  born  in  Groeningen  in  1738,  and 
received  a  thorough  university  education.  It  was  still  a  custom  with 
the  American  churches  to  send  to  Holland  for  ministers  to  supply 
their  pulpits.  He  arrived  in  August,  1760,  less  than  a  year  after 
Dom.  Frielinghuysen  left,  and  died  z6  December,  1790,  aged  53. 
He  took  a  conspicuous  part  in  severing  the  church  from  its  dependence 
upon  the  mother  country,  and  its  reorganization  upon  the  present  plan. 
He  took  strong  ground  in  favor  of  the  cause  of  the  Revolution,  and  at 
a  most  critical  time  when  Burgoyne  was  advancing  upon  the  city,  he 
animated  and  inspired  the  people  by  having  his  church  open  daily  for 
prayer  and  address.  He  left  in  manuscript  a  Hebrew  and  Greek 
lexicon  in  a  vols.,  folio,  which  is  preserved  in  the  State  Library  at 
Albany. 


42  MEMOIRS    OF 

name  of  Indian  missionary,  and  with  a  salary  al- 
lowed him  as  such,  had  the  charge  of  performing 
duty  in  a  church  erected  for  that  purpose  in  town, 
to  strangers,  and  such  of  the  military  as  chose  to 
attend.  The  Christian  Indians,  who  were  his  par- 
ticular charge,  lived  at  too  great  a  distance  to  benefit 
by  his  labors.  The  province,  however,  allowed  a 
salary  to  a  zealous  preacher,  who  labored  among 
them  with  apostolic  fervor,  and  with  the  same  dis- 
regard to  the  things  of  this  world.  Dr.  Ogilvie1 
was  highly  respected,  and  indeed  much  beloved  by 
all  who  were  capable  of  appreciating  his  merit. 
His  appearance  was  singularly  prepossessing ;  his 
address  and  manners  entirely  those  of  a  gentleman. 
His  abilities  were  respectable,  his  doctrine  was  pure 
and  scriptural,  and  his  life  exemplary,  both  as  a 
clergyman  and  in  his  domestic  circle,  where  he  was 
peculiarly  amiable ;  add  to  all  this  a  talent  for  con- 
versation, extensive  reading,  and  a  thorough  knowl- 

1  John  Ogilvie  was  a  native  of  New  York.  He  was  ostensibly  an 
Indian  missionary  in  the  Mohawk  valley,  although  he  preached  mostly 
at  St.  Peter' s  Episcopal  Church  in  Albany,  from  his  graduation  at  Yale 
College  in  1748  until  1765,  having  been  appointed  to  this  mission  on 
account  of  his  being  a  Dutch  scholar.  In  1760  he  joined  the  expedi- 
tion against  Niagara,  and  continued  attached  to  the  army  until  the 
close  of  the  French  war.  After  leaving  Albany  he  was  an  assistant 
minister  at  Trinity  Church  in  New  York  and  a  professor  in  Columbia 
College.  On  the  death  of  Rev.  Dr.  Barclay  in  1754,  who  had  under- 
taken the  supervision  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  in  the  Indian 
tongue,  the  work  was  continued  by  Dr.  Ogilvie,  who  was  also  familiar 
with  the  language.  The  work  seems  to  have  been  finished  by  him  in 
1769.  He  died  26  November,  1774,  aged  51,  leaving  among  other 
benefactions  ^300  to  a  charity  school. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         43 

edge  of  life.  The  doctor  was  indeed  a  man  after 
Madame's  own  heart ;  and  she  never  ceased  regret- 
ting his  departure  to  New  York,  where  he  was 
settled  two  years  after.  For  Stuart1  she  had  the 
utmost  veneration.  Perfectly  calculated  for  his 
austere  and  uncourtly  duties,  he  was  wholly  de- 
voted to  them,  and  scarce  cast  a  look  back  to  that 
world  which  he  had  forsaken.  Yet  he  was,  on 
various  accounts,  highly  valued  by  Madame;  for 
since  the  appointment  of  the  superintendent,  and 
more  particularly  since  the  death  of  the  colonel,  he 
became  more  important  to  her,  as  the  link  which 
held  her  to  the  Mohawks,  whom  she  now  saw  so 
much  more  seldom,  but  always  continued  to  love. 
The  comprehension  of  her  mind  was  so  great,  and 
her  desire  for  knowledge  so  strong,  that  she  found 
much  entertainment  in  tracing  the  unfoldings  of  the 
human  mind  in  its  native  state,  and  the  gradual 
progress  of  intellect  when  enlightened  by  the  gentle 
influence  of  pure  religion  ;  and  this  good  Father  of 
the  deserts  gratified  her  more  by  the  details  he  was 
enabled  to  give  of  the  progress  of  devotion  and  of 
mind  among  his  little  flock,  than  he  could  have 
done  by  all  that  learning  or  knowledge  of  the  world 

1  A  pious  missionary  in  the  Mohawk  country.  —  Mrs.  Grant, 
[John  Stuart,  D.D.,  styled  the  father  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Upper 
Canada  (See  N.  Y.  Doc,  Hist.,  in,  1063),  was  the  only  Episcopal 
missionary  among  the  Indians  throughout  the  whole  confederacy, 
which,  we  are  informed  by  Sir  Guy  Johnson,  "afforded  an  oppor- 
tunity for  introducing  New  England  missionaries  who  diffused  their 
evil  principles  with  their  religion  !"  (Col,  Doc.,  vin.,  657). 


44  MEMOIRS    OF 

can  bestow.  Again  the  Flats  began  to  be  the  re- 
sort of  the  best  society.  She  had  also  her  nephews 
in  succession  ;  one,  a  brother  of  that  Philip  so  often 
mentioned,  since  better  known  to  the  world  by  the 
appellation  of  General  Schuyler,  had  been  long  about 
the  family.  He  was  a  youth  distinguished  for  the 
gracefulness  of  his  person,  and  the  symmetry  of  his 
features.  He  was  a  perfect  model  of  manly  beauty, 
though  almost  as  dark  as  an  Indian.  Indeed,  both 
in  looks  and  character,  he  greatly  resembled  the 
aborigines  of  the  country.  He  seemed  perfectly 
unconscious  of  the  extraordinary  personal  advan- 
tages which  be  possessed ;  was  brave,  honorable,  and 
possessed  a  very  good  understanding,  but  collected 
within  himself;  silent,  yet  eloquent  when  he  chose 
to  interest  himself,  or  was  warmed  by  the  occasion ; 
and  had  such  stainless  probity,  that  every  one  re- 
spected and  trusted  him.  Yet  he  was  so  very  indif- 
ferent to  the  ordinary  pleasures  and  pursuits  of  life, 
and  so  entirely  devoted  to  the  sports  of  the  field, 
that  when  his  aunt  afterwards  procured  him  a  com- 
mission in  a  marching  regiment,  hoping  thus  to 
tame  and  brighten  him,  he  was  known  in  Ireland 
by  the  name  of  the  handsome  savage.  This  title 
did  not  belong  to  him  in  the  sense  we  most  often 
use  it  in ;  for  his  manners  were  not  rude  and  harsh 
in  the  least,  though  an  air  of  cold  austerity,  which 
shaded  his  fine  countenance,  with  his  delight  in 
solitary  amusements,  led  the  gay  and  social  inhabit- 
ants of  the  country  in  which  he  resided,  to  consider 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY          45 

him  as  unwillingly  rescued  from  his  native  forests.1 
This  youth  was  named  Cortlandt,  and  will  be  more 
particularly  mentioned  hereafter.  That  eccentric 
and  frolicsome  boy,  whose  humorous  sallies  and 
playful  flights  were  a  continual  source  of  amuse- 
ment, was  also  a  frequent  guest,  but  did  not  stay  so 
long  as  his  elder  brother,  who  certainly  was,  of  all 
aunt's  adopted,  the  greatest  favorite,  and  became 
more  endeared  to  her,  from  being  less  successful  in 
life  than  the  rest  of  his  family. 

In  a  council  held  between  their  relations  and 
Madame,  it  was  decided  that  both  Cortlandt  and 
Cornelius  should  try  their  fortune  in  arms.  Cort- 
landt was  made  an  ensign  in  an  old  regiment,  and 
went  over  to  Ireland.  Cornelius,  a  year  after,  got 
a  commission  in  the  55th,  then  commanded  by  that 
singularly  worthy  and  benevolent  character  Sir 
Adolphus  Oughton.  The  mayor  was  highly  re- 
spected for  his  wisdom ;  yet  his  purchasing  a  com- 
mission for  so  mere  a  boy,  and  laying  out  for  it  a 
sum  of  money  which  appeared  large  in  a  country 
where  people  contrived  to  do  very  well  with  won- 
derfully little  of  that  article,  astonished  all  his  coun- 
trymen. Conscious,  however,  of  his  son's  military 
genius,  and  well  knowing  that  the  vivacity  that  filled 
his  grave  kinsmen  with  apprehension,  was  merely  a 
lambent  flame  of  youthful  gaiety,  which  would 
blaze  without  scorching,  he  fearlessly  launched  him 

1  Capt.  Cortlandt  Schuyler  returned  from  Ireland  with  his  family 
in  1764,  having  resigned  his  commission. 


46  MEMOIRS 

into  a  profession  in  which  he  hoped  to  see  him 
attain  merited  distinction.  While  the  excellent 
patroness  of  all  these  young  people  had  the  satis- 
faction of  seeing  every  one  brought  up  under  her 
auspices  (and,  by  this  time,  they  were  not  a  few), 
do  honor  to  her  instructions,  and  fill  up  their  differ- 
ent stations  in  a  manner  the  most  creditable  and 
prosperous  ;  and  she  was  often  surrounded  by  the 
children  of  those  who  had  engaged  her  earliest 
cares. 


Chapter  VIII 

BURNING  OF  THE  HOUSE  AT  THE  FLATS  — 
MADAME'S  REMOVAL  —  JOURNEY  OF  THE 
AUTHOR 

IT  was  at  this  time,  when  she  was  in  the  very 
acme  of  her  reputation,  and  her  name  never 
mentioned  without  some  added  epithet  of  respect 
or  affection,  that  her  house,  so  long  the  receptacle 
of  all  that  was  good  or  intelligent,  and  the  asylum 
of  all  that  was  helpless  and  unfortunate,  was  entirely 
consumed  before  her  eyes. 

In  the  summer  of  this  year,  as  General  Bradstreet 
was  riding  by  the  Flats  one  day,  and  proposing  to 
call  on  Madame,  he  saw  her  sitting  in  a  great  chair 
under  the  little  avenue  of  cherry  trees  that  led  from 
her  house  to  the  road.  All  the  way  as  he  ap- 
proached he  saw  smoke,  and  at  last  flames,  burst- 
ing out  from  the  top  of  her  house.  He  was  afraid 
to  alarm  her  suddenly ;  but  when  he  told  her,  she 
heard  it  with  the  utmost  composure  ;  pointed  out 
the  likeliest  means  to  check  the  fire  ;  and  ordered 
the  neighbors  to  be  summoned,  and  the  most  valua- 
ble goods  first  removed,  without  ever  attempting 
to  go  over  the  house  herself,  when  she  knew  she 
could  be  of  no  service  ;  but  with  the  most  admirable 


48  MEMOIRS    OF 

presence  of  mind,  she  sat  still  with  a  placid  coun- 
tenance, regulating  and  ordering  everything  in  the 
most  judicious  manner,  and  with  as  much  compos- 


Madame  Schuyler  House  at  the  Flats. 

ure  as  if  she  had  nothing  to  lose.1     When  evening 
came,  of  that  once   happy  mansion    not  a  single 

1  The  house  of  Madame  Schuyler  was  burnt  in  1763.  Her  father 
in  1680,  came  in  possession  of  two  houses  on  the  south-east  corner  of 
State  and  Pearl  Streets  in  the  city  of  Albany,  one  of  which  stood  until 
recently,  the  other  having  been  removed  to  widen  Pearl  Street.  In  one 
of  these  houses  Madame  Schuyler  lived  while  her  house  at  the  Flats 
was  in  process  of  rebuilding.  The  house  now  occupied  by  the  widow 
and  daughter  of  Mr.  Richard  Schuyler  is  known  to  have  been  built 
upon  the  foundation  of  the  old  one,  and  of  the  same  dimensions  and 
sjyle  of  architecture.  That  portion  of  the  wall  of  the  burnt  house, 
forming  the  north-west  corner,  is  still  discernible  in  the  present 
structure,  of  which  an  engraving  is  here  presented.  The  house  stands 
a  few  rods  from  the  river  bank,  facing  the  east,  and  has  the  same 
aspect  as  when  built  more  than  a  century  ago.  A  handsome  bay- 
window  was  placed  over  the  porch  in  May,  1881,  from  which  a  fine 
view  was  obtained.  The  front  door,  which  is  divided  laterally,  in  the 
fashion  of  the  day,  into  an  upper  and  lower  door,  still  retains  its  quaint 
old  brass  knocker  ;  and  the  same  shutters,  with  their  curious  fastenings 
and  hinges,  remain  as  when  it  was  built,  in  1772,  by  the  grandfather 
of  the  late  Mr.  John  C.  Schuyler,  who  leased  the  premises  after 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         49 

beam  was  left,  and  the  scorched  brick  walls  were 
all  that  remained  to  mark  where  it  had  stood. 

Madame  could  not  be  said  to  be  left  without  a 
dwelling,  having  a  house1  in  Albany  rather  larger 
than  the  one  destroyed.  ,But  she  was  fondly  at- 
tached to  the  spot  which  had  been  the  scene  of  so 
much  felicity,  and  rendered  more  dear  to  her  by 
retaining  within  its  bounds  the  remains  of  her  be- 
loved partner.  She  removed  to  Pedrom's  house 
for  the  night.  The  news  of  what  had  happened 
spread  every  where;  and  she  had  the  comfort  of 
knowing,  in  consequence  of  this  misfortune,  better 
than  she  could  by  any  other  means,  how  great  a 
degree  of  public  esteem  and  private  gratitude  she 
had  excited.  The  next  day  people  came  from  all 
quarters  to  condole,  and  ask  her  directions  where 
and  how  she  would  choose  to  have  another  house 
built.  And  in  a  few  days  the  ground  was  covered 
with  bricks,  timber,  and  other  materials,  brought 
there  by  her  friends  in  voluntary  kindness.  It  is 
to  be  observed  that  the  people  in  the  interior  of 
New  York  were  so  exceedingly  skillful  in  the  use 
not  only  of  the  axe,  but  all  ordinary  tools  used  in 

the  fire.  The  scene  looking  south  from  this  spot  is  one  of  great 
beauty,  stretching  over  a  level  plain  reaching  to  the  site  of  the  Van 
Rensselaer  mansion  about  three  or  four  miles  below,  skirted  by  the 
river  on  the  east  and  the  Erie  Canal  on  its  western  border. 

l  This  house  was  on  the  south  side  of  State  Street  opposite  North 
Pearl  Street.  It  was  owned  and  occupied  by  Madame' s  father,  who 
directed  in  his  will  that  she  should  have  the  use  of  it  during  life. 
Some  years  after  the  Revolution,  it  was  removed  for  the  opening 
of  South  Pearl  Street. 

VOL.   II.— 4 


50  MEMOIRS    OF 

planing  and  joining  timber,  that  with  the  aid  of  a 
regular  carpenter  or  two  to  carry  on  the  nicer  parts 
of  the  work,  a  man  could  build  an  ordinary  house, 
if  it  were  a  wooden  one,  with  very  little  more  than 
his  own  domestics.  It  can  scarce  be  credited  that 
this  house,  begun  in  August,  was  ready  for  aunt's 
reception  against  winter,  which  here  begins  very 
early.  But  General  Bradstreet1  had  sent  some  of 
the  king's  workmen,  considering  them  as  employed 
for  the  public  service,  while  carrying  on  this  build- 
ing. The  most  unpleasant  circumstance  about  this 
new  dwelling,  was  the  melancholy  hiatus  which 
appeared  in  front,  where  the  former  large  house 
had  stood,  and  where  the  deep  and  spacious  cellars 
still  yawned  in  gloomy  desolation.  Madame,  who 
no  longer  studied  appearance,  but  merely  thought  of 
a  temporary  accommodation,  for  a  life  which  neither 
she  nor  any  one  expected  to  be  a  long  one,  ordered  a 
broad  wooden  bridge,  like  those  we  see  over  rivers. 
This  bridge  was  furnished  with  seats  like  a  portico, 
and  this  with  the  high  walls  of  the  burnt  house, 
which  were  a  kind  of  screen  before  the  new  one, 

1  John  Bradstreet  was  quarter-master  general,  whose  career  has  been 
sketched  by  Dr.  O'Callaghan  in  "  Colonial  Documents  of  New  York," 
vin,  379.  His  statement  of  Indian  affairs  in  the  war  with  Pontiac  is 
to  be  found  in  the  "  Diary  of  the  Siege  of  Detroit,"  published  in  IV, 
"Munsell's  Hist.  Series."  His  papers  are  preserved  in  the  New  York 
State  Library  at  Albany.  The  house  occupied  by  Gen.  Philip  Schuyler 
in  Albany,  one  of  the  historical  mansions  of  that  city,  was  built  by  the 
wife  of  General  Bradstreet  during  his  absence  at  Oswego.  He  filled 
with  distinguished  ability  various  important  offices,  civil  and  military, 
and  died  25  September,  1774,  aged  63. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY          51 

gave   the  whole   the   appearance  of  some   ancient 
ruin. 

Madame  did  not  find  the  winter  pass  comfortably. 
That  road,  now  that  matters  were  regularly  settled, 
was  no  longer  the  constant  resort  of  her  military 
friends.  Her  favorite  nieces  were  too  engaging, 
and  too  much  admired,  to  leave  room  to  expect  they 
should  remain  with  her.  She  found  her  house  com- 
paratively cold  and  inconvenient,  and  the  winter 
long  and  comfortless.  She  could  not  now  easily 
go  the  distance  to  church.  Pedrom,  that  affection- 
ate and  respected  brother,  was  now,  by  increasing 
deafness,  disqualified  from  being  a  companion  ;  and 
sister  Susan,  infirm  and  cheerless,  was  now,  for  the 
most  part,  confined  to  her  chamber.  Under  these 
circumstances  she  was  at  length  prevailed  on  to 
remove  to  Albany.  The  Flats  she  gave  in  lease  to 
Pedrom's  son  Stephen.  The  house  and  surround- 
ing grounds  were  let  to  an  Irish  gentleman,  who 
came  over  to  America  to  begin  a  new  course  of 
life,  after  spending  his  fortune  in  fashionable  dissi- 
pation. On  coming  to  America,  he  found  that 
there  was  an  intermediate  state  of  hardship  and  self- 
denial  to  be  encountered,  before  he  could  enter  on 

i  that  fancied  Arcadia  which  he  thought  was  to  be 
found  in  every  wood.  He  settled  his  family  in  this 
temporary  dwelling,  while  he  went  to  traverse  the 
provinces  in  search  of  some  unforfeited  Eden,  where 

I  the  rose  had  no  thorn,  and  the  course  of  ceaseless 
labor  had  not  begun  to  operate.  Madame  found 


52  MEMOIRS    OF 

reason  to  be  highly  satisfied  with  the  change.  She 
had  mills  *  which  supplied  her  with  bread,  her  slaves 
cut  and  brought  home  fire  wood,  she  had  a  good 
garden,  and  fruit  and  every  other  rural  dainty  came 
to  her  in  the  greatest  abundance.  All  her  former 
proteges  and  friends  in  different  quarters  delighted 
to  send  their  tribute ;  and  this  was  merely  an  inter- 
change of  kindness. 

Soon  after  this  removal,  her  eldest  niece,  a  re- 
markably fine  young  woman,  was  married  to  Mr. 
C.  of  C.2  manor,  which  was  accounted  one  of  the 
best  matches,  or  rather  the  very  best  in  the  prov- 
ince. She  was  distinguished  by  a  figure  of  uncom- 
mon grace  and  dignity,  a  noble  and  expressive 
countenance,  and  a  mind  such  as  her  appearance 
led  one  to  expect.  This  very  respectable  person 
is,  I  believe,  still  living,  after  witnessing,  among 
her  dearest  connections,  scenes  the  most  distressing, 
and  changes  the  most  painful.  She  has  ever  con- 

1  Aunt  Schuyler  had  a  third  share  in  the  property  left  by  her  father 
at  Saratoga  (Schuylerville),  consisting  of  lands,  farms  and  mills.     This 
large  property  afterwards  came  into  the  possession  of  General  Philip 
Schuyler.      The  mills  and  other  buildings  were  burned  by  Burgoyne. 

2  Elizabeth,  eldest  daughter  of  Cornelius  Cuyler,   married  James 
Van  Cortlandt,  in  1654  ;  and  six  years  later  her  sister  Elsie  married 
Augustus  Van  Cortlandt,  a  brother  of  James.      Elsie  died  eighteen 
months  after  her  marriage.      James  and  Augustus  were  the  sons  of 
Frederick    Van    Cortlandt  and    Frances   Jay,  his   wife.      They  were 
descendants  in  the  fourth  generation  of  Olof  Stevense  Van  Cortlandt, 
the  Hollander.      Margaret,  youngest  daughter  of  Cornelius  Cuyler, 
married  Isaac  Low  of   New  York.      In  the  Revolution  he  hesitated, 
and    was    lost.     His   brother,  Nicholas   Low,  was  wiser,  and  saved 
himself  and  estate. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         53 

ducted  herself,  so  as  to  do  honor  to  the  excellent 
examples  of  her  mother  and  aunt,  and  to  be  a  pat- 
tern of  steadfast  truth  and  generous  friendship,  in 
exigencies  the  most  trying.  Her  younger  sister, 
equally  admired,  though  possessing  a  different  style 
of  beauty,  more  soft  and  debonair,  with  the  fairest 
complexion,  and  most  cheerful  simplicity  of  aspect, 
was  the  peculiar  favorite  of  her  aunt,  above  all  that 
ever  she  took  charge  of;  she,  too,  was  soon  after 
married  to  that  highly  esteemed  patriot  the  late 
Isaac  L.,  revered,  through  the  whole  continent,  for 
his  sound  good  sense  and  genuine  public  spirit. 
He  was,  indeed,  "  happily  tempered,  mild,  and 
firm ; "  and  was  finally  the  victim  of  steadfast 
loyalty. 

It  now  remains  to  say  how  the  writer  of  these 
pages  became  so  well  acquainted  with  the  subject 
of  these  memoirs. 

My  father  was  at  this  time  a  subaltern  in  the 
55th  regiment.  That  body  of  men  were  then 
stationed  at  Oswego ;  but  during  the  busy  and 
warlike  period  I  have  been  describing,  my  mother 
and  I  were  boarded,  in  the  country,  below  Albany, 
with  the  most  worthy  people  imaginable ;  with 
whom  we  ever  after  kept  up  a  cordial  friendship. 
My  father,  wishing  to  see  his  family,  was  indulged 
with  permission,  and  at  the  same  time  ordered  to 
take  the  command  of  an  additional  company,  who 
were  to  come  up,  and  to  purchase  for  the  regiment 
all  the  stores  they  should  require  for  the  winter ; 


54  MEMOIRS    OF 

which  proved  a  most  extensive  commission.  In 
the  month  of  October  he  set  out  on  this  journey, 
or  voyage  rather,  in  which  it  was  settled  that  my 
mother  and  I  should  accompany  him.  We  were,  I 
believe,  the  first  females,  above  the  very  lowest 
ranks,  who  had  ever  penetrated  so  far  into  this 
remote  wilderness.  Certainly  never  was  joy  greater 
than  that  which  lulled  my  childish  mind  on  setting 
out  on  this  journey.  I  had  before  seen  little  of  my 
father,  and  the  most  I  knew  of  him  was  from  the 
solicitude  I  had  heard  expressed  on  his  account, 
and  the  fear  of  his  death  after  every  battle.  I  was, 
indeed,  a  little  ashamed  of  having  a  military  father, 
brought  up  as  I  had  mostly  been,  in  a  Dutch  family, 
and  speaking  that  language  as  fluently  as  my  own ; 
yet,  on  the  other  hand,  I  had  felt  so  awkward  at 
seeing  all  my  companions  have  fathers  to  talk  and 
complain  to,  while  I  had  none,  that  I  thought  upon 
the  whole  it  was  a  very  good  thing  to  have  a  father 
of  any  kind.  The  scarlet  coat,  which  I  had  been 
taught  to  consider  as  the  symbol  of  wickedness, 
disgusted  me  in  some  degree ;  but  then,  to  my 
great  comfort,  I  found  my  father  did  not  swear ; 
and  again,  to  my  unspeakable  delight,  that  he 
prayed.  A  soldier  pray !  was  it  possible  ?  and 
should  I  really  see  my  father  in  heaven  !  How 
transporting !  By  a  sudden  revolution  of  opinion 
I  now  thought  my  father  the  most  charming  of  all 
beings  ;  and  the  overflowings  of  my  good  will  reached 
to  the  whole  company,  because  they  wore  the  same 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY          55 

color,  and  seemed  to  respect  and  obey  him.  I 
dearly  loved  idleness  too,  and  the  more,  because 
my  mother,  who  delighted  in  needle-work,  con- 
fined me  too  much  to  it.  What  joys  were  mine ! 
to  be  idle  for  a  fortnight,  seeing  new  woods,  rivers, 
and  animals,  every  day ;  even  then  the  love  of  na- 
ture was,  in  my  young  bosom,  a  passion  productive 
of  incessant  delight.  I  had,  too,  a  primer,  two 
hymns,  and  a  ballad;  and  these  I  read  over  and 
over  with  great  diligence.  At  intervals  my  atten- 
tion was  agreeably  engaged  by  the  details  the  sol- 
diers gave  my  father  of  their  manner  of  living  and 
fighting  in  the  woods,  etc.,  and  with  these  the 
praises  of  Madame  were  often  mingled.  I  thought 
of  her  continually  ;  every  great  thing  I  heard  about 
her,  even  her  size,  had  its  impression.  She  became 
the  heroine  of  my  childish  imagination ;  and  I 
thought  of  her  as  something  both  awful  and  ad- 
mirable. We  had  the  surgeon  of  the  regiment, 
and  another  officer  with  us;  they  talked  too,  of 
Madame,  of  Indians,  of  battles,  and  of  ancient 
history.  Sitting  from  morning  to  night  musing  in 
the  boat,  contemplating  my  father,  who  appeared 
to  me  a  hero  and  a  saint,  and  thinking  of  Aunt 
Schuyler,  who  filled  up  my  whole  mind  with  the 
grandeur  with  which  my  fancy  had  invested  her; 
and  then  having  my  imagination  continually  amused 
with  the  variety  of  noble  wild  scenes  which  the 
beautiful  banks  of  the  Mohawk  afforded,  I  am 
convinced  I  thought  more  in  that  fortnight,  that  is 


56  MEMOIRS 

to  say,  acquired  more  ideas,  and  took  more  lasting 
impressions,  than  ever  I  did,  in  the  same  space  of 
time,  in  my  life.  This,  however  foreign  it  may 
appear  to  my  subject,  I  mention,  as  so  far  connect- 
ing with  it,  that  it  accounts,  in  some  measure,  for 
that  development  of  thought  which  led  me  to  take 
such  ready  and  strong  impressions  from  aunt's  con- 
versation when  afterwards  I  knew  her. 


Chapter   IX 

CONTINUATION   OF  THE  JOURNEY  — ARRIVAL 
AT   OSWEGO 

NEVER,  certainly,  was  a  journey  so  replete 
with  felicity.  I  luxuriated  in  idleness  and 
novelty ;  knowledge  was  my  delight,  and  it  was 
now  pouring  in  on  my  mind  from  all  sides.  What 
a  change  from  sitting  pinned  down  to  my  samplar 
by  my  mother  till  the  hour  of  play,  and  then  run- 
ning wild  with  children  as  young,  and  still  simpler 
than  myself.  Much  attended  to  by  all  my  fellow 
travellers,  I  was  absolutely  intoxicated  with  the 
charms  of  novelty,  and  the  sense  of  my  new-found 
importance.  The  first  day  we  came  to  Schenectady, 
a  little  town,  situated  in  a  rich  and  beautiful  spot, 
and  partly  supported  by  the  Indian  trade.  The 
next  day  we  embarked,  proceeded  up  the  river  with 
six  bateaux,  and  came  early  in  the  evening  to  one 
of  the  most  charming  scenes  imaginable,  where  Fort 
Hendrick  was  built ;  so  called,  in  compliment  to  the 
principal  sachem,  or  king  of  the  Mohawks.  The 
castle  of  this  primitive  monarch  stood  at  a  little 
distance,  on  a  rising  ground,  surrounded  by  pali- 
sades. He  resided,  at  the  time,  in  a  house  which 
the  public  workmen,  who  had  lately  built  this  fort, 


58  MEMOIRS    OF 

had  been  ordered  to  erect  for  him  in  the  vicinity. 
We  did  not  fail  to  wait  upon  his  majesty;  who,  not 
choosing  to  depart  too  much  from  the  customs 
of  his  ancestors,  had  not  permitted  divisions  of 
apartments,  or  modern  furniture,  to  profane  his  new 
dwelling.  It  had  the  appearance  of  a  good  barn, 
and  was  divided  across  by  a  mat  hung  in  the 
middle.  King  Hendrick,  who  had  indeed  a  very 
princely  figure,  and  a  countenance  that  would  not 
have  dishonored  royalty,  was  sitting  on  the  floor 
beside  a  large  heap  of  wheat,  surrounded  with 
baskets  of  dried  berries  of  different  kinds ;  beside 
him,  his  son,  a  very  pretty  boy,  somewhat  older 
than  myself,  was  caressing  a  foal,  which  was  un- 
ceremoniously introduced  into  the  royal  residence. 
A  laced  hat,  a  fine  saddle  and  pistols,  gifts  of  his 
good  brother  the  great  king,  were  hung  round  on 
the  cross  beams.  He  was  splendidly  arrayed  in  a 
coat  of  pale  blue,  trimmed  with  silver ;  all  the  rest 
of  his  dress  was  of  the  fashion  of  his  own  nation, 
and  highly  embellished  with  beads  and  other  orna- 
ments. All  this  suited  my  taste  exceedingly,  and 
was  level  to  my  comprehension.  I  was  prepared 
to  admire  King  Hendrick  by  hearing  him  described 
as  a  generous  warrior,  terrible  to  his  enemies  and 
kind  to  his  friends :  the  character  of  all  others  cal- 
culated to  make  the  deepest  impression  on  ignorant 
innocence,  in  a  country  where  infants  learned  the 
horrors  of  war  from  its  vicinity.  Add  to  all  this, 
that  the  monarch  smiled,  clapped  my  head,  and 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY          59 

ordered  me  a  little  basket,  very  pretty,  and  filled 
by  the  officious  kindness  of  his  son  with  dried 
berries.  Never  did  princely  gifts,  or  the  smile  of 
royalty,  produce  more  ardent  admiration  and  pro- 
found gratitude.  I  went  out  of  the  royal  presence 
overawed  and  delighted,  and  am  not  sure  but  what 
I  have  liked  kings  all  my  life  the  better  for  this 
happy  specimen,  to  which  I  was  so  early  introduced. 
Had  I  seen  royalty,  properly  such,  invested  with 
all  the  pomp  of  European  magnificence,  I  should 
possibly  have  been  confused  and  over-dazzled. 
But  this  was  quite  enough,  and  not  too  much  for 
me ;  and  I  went  away,  lost  in  a  reverie,  and  thought 
of  nothing  but  kings,  battles,  and  generals  for  many 
days  after. 

This  journey,  charming  my  romantic  imagination 
by  its  very  delays  and  difficulties,  was  such  a  source 
of  interest  and  novelty  to  me,  that  above  all  things 
I  dreaded  its  conclusion,  which  I  well  knew  would 
be  succeeded  by  long  tasks  and  close  confinement. 
Happily  for  me  we  soon  entered  upon  Wood 
creek,  the  most  desirable  of  all  places  for  a  traveller 
who  loves  to  linger  if  such  another  traveller  there 
be.  This  is  a  small  river,  which  winds  irregularly 
through  a  deep  and  narrow  valley  of  the  most 
lavish  fertility.  The  depth  and  richness  of  the 
soil  here  was  evinced  by  the  loftiness  and  the 
nature  of  the  trees,  which  were,  hickory,  butter-nut, 
chestnut,  and  sycamores,  of  vast  circumference  as 
well  as  height.  These  became  so  top-heavy,  and 


60  MEMOIRS    OF 

their  roots  were  so  often  undermined  by  this  insidi- 
ous stream,  that  in  every  tempestuous  night,  some 
giants  of  the  grove  fell  prostrate,  and  very  fre- 
quently across  the  stream,  where  they  lay  in  all 
their  pomp  of  foliage,  like  a  leafy  bridge,  un- 
witherd,  and  formed  an  obstacle  almost  invincible 
to  all  navigation.  The  Indian  lifted  his  slight 
canoe,  and  carried  it  past  the  tree ;  but  our  deep- 
loaded  bateaux  could  not  be  so  managed.  Here 
my  orthodoxy  was  shocked,  and  my  anti-military 
prejudices  revived  by  the  swearing  of  the  soldiers  ; 
but  then  again  my  veneration  for  my  father  was 
if  possible  increased,  by  his  lectures  against  swear- 
ing provoked  by  their  transgression.  Nothing  re- 
mained for  our  heroes  but  to  attack  these  sylvan 
giants  axe  in  hand,  and  make  way  through  their 
divided  bodies.  The  assault  upon  fallen  greatness 
was  unanimous  and  unmerciful,  but  the  resistance 
was  tough,  and  the  process  tedious  ;  so  much  so, 
that  we  were  three  days  proceeding  fourteen  miles, 
having  at  every  two  hours'  end  at  least,  a  new 
tree  to  cut  through. 

It  was  here,  as  far  as  I  recollect  the  history  of 
my  own  heart,  that  the  first  idea  of  artifice  ever 
entered  to  my  mind.  It  was,  like  most  female 
artifices,  the  offspring  of  vanity.  These  delays 
were  a  new  source  of  pleasure  to  me.  It  was 
October :  the  trees  we  had  to  cut  through  were 
often  loaded  with  nuts,  and  while  I  ran  lightly 
along  the  branches,  to  fill  my  royal  basket  with 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY          61 

their  spoils,  which  I  had  great  pleasure  in  distribut- 
ing, I  met  with  multitudes  of  fellow  plunderers 
in  the  squirrels  of  various  colors  and  sizes,  who 
were  here  numberless.  This  made  my  excursions 
amusing:  but  when  I  found  my  disappearance 
excited  alarm,  they  assumed  more  interest.  It  was 
so  fine  to  sit  quietly  among  the  branches,  and  hear 
concern  and  solicitude  expressed  about  the  child. 

I  will  spare  the  reader  the  fatigue  of  accompany- 
ing our  little  fleet  through 

"  Antres  vast  and  deserts  wild  :  " 

only  observing,  that  the  munificent  solitude  through 
which  we  travelled  was  much  relieved  by  the  sight 
of  Johnson  hall,  beautifully  situated  in  a  plain 
by  the  river ;  while  Johnson  castle,  a  few  miles 
further  up,  made  a  most  respectable  appearance 
on  a  commanding  eminence  at  some  distance. 

We  travelled  from  one  fort  to  another ;  but  in 
three  or  four  instances,  to  my  great  joy,  they  were 
so  remote  from  each  other,  that  we  found  it  neces- 
sary to  encamp  at  night  on  the  bank  of  the  river. 
This,  in  a  land  of  profound  solitude,  where  wolves, 
foxes,  and  bears  abounded,  and  were  very  much 
inclined  to  consider  and  treat  us  as  intruders,  might 
seem  dismal  to  wiser  folks.  But  I  was  so  grati- 
fied by  the  bustle  and  agitation  produced  by  our 
measures  of  defence,  and  actuated  by  the  love 
which  all  children  have  for  mischief  that  is  not 
fatal,  that  I  enjoyed  our  night's  encampment  ex- 


62  MEMOIRS    OF 

ceedingly.  We  stopped  early  wherever  we  saw  the 
largest  and  most  combustible  kind  of  trees.  Cedars 
were  great  favorites,  and  the  first  work  was  to  fell 
and  pile  upon  each  other  an  incredible  number, 
stretched  lengthways,  while  every  one  who  could 
was  busied  in  gathering  withered  branches  of  pine, 
etc.,  to  fill  up  the  interstices  of  the  pile,  and  make 
the  green  wood  burn  the  faster.  Then  a  train  of 
gun-powder  was  laid  along  to  give  fire  to  the  whole 
fabric  at  once,  which  blazed  and  crackled  magnifi- 
cently. Then  the  tents  were  erected  close  in  a 
row  before  this  grand  conflagration.  This  was  not 
merely  meant  to  keep  us  warm,  though  the  nights 
did  begin  to  grow  cold,  but  to  frighten  wild  beasts 
and  wandering  Indians.  In  case  any  such  Indians, 
belonging  to  hostile  tribes,  should  see  this  prodi- 
gious blaze,  the  size  of  it  was  meant  to  give  them 
an  idea  of  a  greater  force  than  we  possessed. 

In  one  place,  where  we  were  surrounded  by  hills, 
with  swamps  lying  between  them,  there  seemed 
to  be  a  general  congress  of  wolves,  who  answered 
each  other  from  opposite  hills,  in  sounds  the  most 
terrific.  Probably  the  terror  which  all  savage  ani- 
mals have  at  fire  was  exalted  into  fury,  by  seeing 
so  many  enemies,  whom  they  durst  not  attack. 
The  bull  frogs,  the  harmless,  the  hideous  inhabit- 
ants of  the  swamps,  seemed  determined  not  to 
be  out-done,  and  roared  a  tremendous  bass  to  this 
bravura  accompaniment.  This  was  almost  too  much 
for  my  love  of  the  terribly  sublime :  some  women, 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY          63 

who  were  our  fellow-travellers,  shrieked  with  terror  : 
and  finally,  the  horrors  of  that  night  were  ever 
after  held  in  awful  remembrance  by  all  who  shared 
them. 

The  last  night  of  this  eventful  pilgrimage,  of 
which  I  fear  to  tire  my  readers  by  a  farther  recital, 
was  spent  at  Fort  Brewerton,  then  commanded  by 
Captain  Mungo  Campbell,1  whose  warm  and  gener- 
ous heart,  whose  enlightened  and  comprehensive 
mind,  whose  social  qualities  and  public  virtues 
I  should  delight  to  commemorate  did  my  limits 
permit ;  suffice  it,  that  he  is  endeared  to  my  recol- 
lection by  being  the  first  person  who  ever  supposed 
me  to  have  a  mind  capable  of  culture,  and  I  was 
ever  after  distinguished  by  his  partial  notice.  Here 
we  were  detained  two  days  by  a  premature  fall 
of  snow.  Very  much  disposed  to  be  happy  any 
where,  I  was  here  particularly  so.  Our  last  day's 
journey,  which  brought  us  to  Lake  Ontario  and 
Fort  Oswego,  our  destined  abode,  was  a  very  hard 
one ;  we  had  people  going  before,  breaking  the 
ice  with  paddles,  all  the  way. 

All  that  I  had  foreboded  of  long  tasks,  confine- 
ment, etc.,  fell  short  of  the  reality.  The  very  deep 
snow  confined  us  all ;  and  at  any  rate  the  rampart 
or  the  parade  would  have  been  no  favorable  scene 
of  improvement  for  me.  One  great  source  of  en- 
tertainment I  discovered  here,  was  no  other  than 

1  Colonel  Mungo  Campbell  was  killed  leading  on  the  attack  of  Fort 
St.  Anne,  at  the  battle  of  White  Plains,  Anno  1777.  —  Mrs.  Grant. 


64  MEMOIRS    OF 

the  Old  Testament,  which  during  my  confinement 
I  learned  to  read ;  till  then  having  done  so  very 
imperfectly.  It  was  an  unspeakable  treasure  as  a 
story  book,  before  I  learnt  to  make  any  better  use 
of  it,  and  became,  by  frequent  perusal,  indelibly 
imprinted  on  my  memory.  Wallace  wight,  and 
Welwood's  memoirs  of  the  history  of  England, 
were  my  next  acquisitions.  Enough  of  egotism, 
yet  all  these  circumstances  contributed  to  form  that 
taste  for  solid  reading  which  first  attracted  the  at- 
tention of  my  invaluable  friend. 

I  cannot  quit  Ontario  without  giving  a  slight 
sketch  of  the  manner  in  which  it  was  occupied  and 
governed  while  I  was  there  and  afterwards,  were  it 
but  to  give  young  soldiers  a  hint  how  they  may 
best  use  their  time  and  resources,  so  as  to  shun  the 
indolence  and  ennui  they  are  often  liable  to  in  such 
situations.  The  55th  had  by  this  time  acquired 
several  English  officers ;  but  with  regard  to  the 
men,  it  might  be  considered  as  a  Scotch  regiment, 
and  was  indeed  originally  such,  being  raised  but  a 
very  few  years  before,  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Stirling.  There  were  small  detachments  in  other 
forts  ;  but  the  greatest  part  were  in  this,  commanded 
by  Major  (afterwards  Colonel)  Duncan  of  Lundie, 
elder  brother  of  the  late  Lord  Duncan  of  Camper- 
down.  He  was  an  experienced  officer,  possessed 
of  considerable  military  science,  learned,  humane, 
and  judicious,  yet  obstinate,  and  somewhat  of  an 
humorist  withal.  Wherever  he  went  a  respectable 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         65 

library  went  with  him.  Though  not  old  he  was 
gouty,  and  war-worn,  and  therefore  allowably  car- 
ried about  many  comforts  and  conveniences  that 
others  could  not  warrantably  do.  The  fort  was  a 
large  place,  built  entirely  of  earth  and  great  logs ; 
I  mean  the  walls  and  ramparts,  for  the  barracks 
were  of  wood,  and  cold  and  comfortless.  The  cut- 
ting down  the  vast  quantity  of  wood  used  in  this 
building  had,  however,  cleared  much  of  the  fertile 
ground  by  which  the  fort  was  surrounded.  The 
lake  abounded  with  excellent  fish  and  varieties  of 
water-fowl,  while  deer  and  every  kind  of  game  were 
numerous  in  the  surrounding  woods.  All  these 
advantages,  however,  were  now  shut  up  by  the 
rigors  of  winter.  The  officers  were  all  very  young 
men,  brought  from  school  or  college  to  the  army, 
and  after  the  dreadful  specimen  of  war  which  they 
had  met  with  on  their  first  outset,  at  the  lines  of 
Ticonderoga,  they  had  gone  through  all  possible 
hardships.  After  a  march  up  St.  Lawrence,  and 
then  through  Canada  here,  a  march  indeed,  con- 
sidering the  season,  and  the  new  road,  worthy  the 
hero  of  Pultowa,  they  were  stationed  in  this  new 
built  garrison,  far  from  every  trace  of  civilization. 
These  young  soldiers  were,  however,  excellent  sub- 
jects for  the  forming  hand  of  Major  Duncan.1  As 

1  Alexander  Duncan,  of  the  5fth  regiment,  obtained  his  company 
a8  October,  1755,  was  promoted  to  major  1760,  and  to  lieutenant- 
colonel  1764.     He  was  at  Fort  Ontario  in  October,  1763,  and  retired 
from  the  army  in  1773. 
VOL.  II.  —  5 


66  MEMOIRS    OF 

I  have  said  on  a  former  occasion  of  others,  if  they 
were  not  improved,  they  were  not  spoiled,  and  what 
little  they  knew  was  good. 

The  major,  by  the  manner  in  which  he  treated 
them,  seemed  to  consider  them  as  his  sons,  or  pupils  ; 
only  one  might  call  him  an  austere  parent,  or  a 
rigid  instructor.  But  this  semblance  of  severity  was 
necessary  to  form  his  pupils  to  habitual  veneration. 
Partaking  every  day  of  their  convivial  enjoyments, 
and  showing  every  hour  some  proof  of  paternal  care 
and  kindness  ;  all  this  was  necessary  to  keep  them 
within  due  limits.  Out  of  regard  to  their  own  wel- 
fare he  wanted  no  more  of  their  love  than  was  con- 
sistent with  salutary  fear ;  and  yet  made  himself  so 
necessary  to  them,  that  nothing  could  be  so  terrible 
to  them  as,  by  any  neglect  or  imprudence,  to  alien- 
ate him.  He  messed  with  them,  but  lived  in  a 
house  of  his  own.  This  was  a  very  singular  build- 
ing divided  into  two  apartments  ;  one  of  which  was 
a  bedroom,  in  which  many  stores  found  place,  the 
other,  a  breakfasting-parlor,  and,  at  the  same  time,  a 
library.  Here  were  globes,  quadrants,  mathematical 
instruments,  flutes,  dumb-bells,  and  chess-boards ; 
here,  in  short,  was  a  magazine  of  instruction  and 
amusement  for  the  colonel's  pupils,  that  is,  for  all 
the  garrison.  (Cornelius  Cuyler,  who  had  now 
joined  the  regiment,  as  youngest  ensign,  was  in- 
cluded in  this  number.)  This  Scythian  dwelling, 
for  such  it  seemed,  was  made  entirely  of  wood,  and 
fixed  upon  wheels  of  the  same  material,  so  that  it 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         67 

could  be  removed  from  one  part  of  the  parade  to 
another,  as  it  frequently  was.  So  slight  a  tenement, 
where  the  winters  were  intensely  cold,  was  ill  cal- 
culated for  a  gouty  patient;  for  this,  however,  he 
found  a  remedy ;  the  boards,  which  formed  the  walls 
of  his  apartment,  being  covered  with  deer-skins, 
and  a  most  ample  bear-skin  spread  on  the  floor  by 
way  of  carpet.  When  once  the  winter  set  fully  in, 
Oswego  became  a  perfect  Siberia ;  cut  off  even  from 
all  intelligence  of  what  was  passing  in  the  world. 
But  the  major  did  not  allow  this  interval  to  waste 
in  sloth  or  vacancy ;  he  seemed  rather  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  the  exclusion  of  all  exterior  objects.  His 
library  was  select  and  soldier-like.  It  consisted  of 
numerous  treatises  on  the  military  art,  ancient  and 
modern  history,  biography,  etc.,  besides  the  best 
authors  in  various  sciences,  of  which  I  only  recollect 
geography  and  the  mathematics.  All  the  young 
men  were  set  to  read  such  books  as  suited  their  dif- 
ferent inclinations  and  capacities.  The  subalterns 
breakfasted  with  their  commander  in  rotation  every 
day,  three  or  four  at  a  time ;  after  breakfast  he  kept 
them,  perhaps  two  hours,  examining  them  on  the 
subject  of  their  different  studies.  Once  a  week  he 
had  a  supper  party  for  such  of  the  captains  as  were 
then  in  the  fort ;  and  once  a  week  they  entertained 
him  in  the  same  manner.  To  these  parties  such  of 
the  subalterns,  as  distinguished  themselves  by  dili- 
gence and  proficiency,  were  invited.  Whoever  was 
negligent,  he  made  the  subject  of  sarcasms  so  pointed 


68 


MEMOIRS 


at  one  time,  and  at  another  so  ludicrous,  that  there 
was  no  enduring  it.  The  dread  of  severe  punish- 
ment could  not  operate  more  forcibly.  Yet  he  was 
so  just,  so  impartial,  so  free  from  fickleness  and 
favoritism,  and  so  attentive  to  their  health,  their 
amusements,  and  their  economy,  that  every  indi- 
vidual felt  him  necessary  to  his  comfort,  and  looked 
up  to  him  as  his  "  guide,  philosopher,  and  friend." 


Chapter  X 


BENEFIT   OF   SELECT   READING  —  HUNTING 
EXCURSION 

T  TNSPEAKABLE  benefit  and  improvement 
\^J  was  derived  from  the  course  of  reading  I 
have  described,  which,  in  the  absence  of  other  sub- 
jects, furnished  daily  topics  of  discussion,  thus  im- 
pressing it  more  forcibly  on  the  mind. 

The  advantages  of  this  course  of  social  study, 
directed  by  a  mentor  so  respected,  were  such,  that 
I  have  often  heard  it  asserted  that  these  unformed 
youths  derived  more  solid  improvement  from  it 
than  from  all  their  former  education.  Reading  is 
one  thing ;  but  they  learned  to  think  and  to  con- 
verse. The  result  of  these  acquirements  served  to 
impress  on  my  mind  what  I  formerly  observed 
with  regard  to  Madame,  that  a  promiscuous  multi- 
tude of  books  always  within  reach  retards  the  acqui- 
sition of  useful  knowledge.  It  is  like  having  a 
great  number  of  acquaintances  and  few  friends ;  one 
of  the  consequences  of  the  latter  is  to  know  much 
of  exterior  appearances,  of  modes  and  manners,  but 
little  of  nature  and  genuine  character.  By  run- 
ning over  numbers  of  books  without  selection,  in  a 
desultory  manner,  people,  in  the  same  way,  get  a 


70  MEMOIRS    OF 

general  superficial  idea  of  the  varieties  and  nature 
of  different  styles,  but  do  not  comprehend  or  retain 
the  matter  with  the  same  accuracy  as  those  who 
have  read  a  few  books,  by  the  best  authors,  over 
and  over  with  diligent  attention.  I  speak  now  of 
those  one  usually  meets  with ;  not  of  those  com- 
manding minds,  whose  intuitive  research  seizes  on 
everything  worth  retaining,  and  rejects  the  rest  as 
naturally  as  one  throws  away  the  rind  when  pos- 
sessed of  the  kernel. 

Our  young  students  got  through  the  winter  pretty 
well ;  and  it  is  particularly  to  be  observed,  that  there 
was  no  such  thing  as  a  quarrel  heard  of  among  them. 
Their  time  was  spent  in  a  regular  succession  of  use- 
ful pursuits,  which  prevented  them  from  risking  the 
dangers  that  often  occur  in  such  places ;  for,  in 
general,  idleness  and  confinement  to  the  same  circle 
of  society  produce  such  a  fermentation  in  the  mind, 
and  such  neglect  of  ceremonial  observances,  which 
are  the  barriers  of  civility,  that  quarrels  and  duels 
more  readily  occur  in  such  situations  than  in  any 
other.  But  when  spring  drew  near,  this  paternal 
commander  found  it  extremely  difficult  to  rein  in 
the  impatience  of  the  youths  to  plunge  into  the 
woods  to  hunt.  There  were  such  risks  to  en- 
counter, of  unknown  morasses,  wolves,  and  hostile 
Indians,  that  it  was  dangerous  to  indulge  them. 
At  last,  when  the  days  began  to  lengthen,  in  the 
end  of  February,  a  chosen  party,  on  whose  hardi- 
hood and  endurance  the  major  could  depend,  were 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         71 

permitted  to  go  on  a  regular  hunting  excursion  in 
the  Indian  fashion.  This  was  become  desirable  on 
different  accounts,  the  garrison  having  been  for  some 
time  before  entirely  subsisting  on  salt  provisions. 
Sheep  and  cows  were  out  of  the  question,  there  not 
being  one  of  either  within  forty  miles.  A  Captain 
Hamilton,  who  was  a  practised  wood  ranger,  com- 
manded this  party,  who  were  clad  almost  like 
Indians,  and  armed  in  the  same  manner.  They 
were  accompanied  by  a  detachment  of  ten  men ; 
some  of  whom  having  been  prisoners  with  the 
Indians,  were  more  particularly  qualified  to  engage 
in  this  adventure.  They  were  allowed  four  or  five 
days  to  stay,  and  provided  with  a  competent  supply 
of  bear-skins,  blankets,  etc.,  to  make  their  projected 
wigwams  comfortable.  The  allotted  time  expired, 
and  we  all  begun  to  quarrel  with  our  salt  provisions, 
and  to  long  for  the  promised  venison.  Another, 
and  yet  another  day  passed,  when  our  longing  was 
entirely  absorbed  in  the  apprehensions  we  begun  to 
entertain.  Volunteers  now  presented  themselves  to 
go  in  search  of  the  lost  hunters ;  but  those  offers 
were,  for  good  reasons,  rejected,  and  every  counte- 
nance begun  to  lengthen  with  fears  we  were  un- 
willing to  express  to  each  other.  The  major, 
conjecturing  the  hunters  might  have  been  bewil- 
dered in  those  endless  woods,  ordered  the  cannon 
to  be  fired  at  noon,  and  again  at  midnight,  for  their 
direction.  On  the  eighth  day,  when  suspense  was 
wound  up  to  the  highest  pitch,  the  party  were  seen 


72  MEMOIRS    OF 

approaching,  and  they  entered  in  triumph,  loaded 
with  sylvan  spoils  ;  among  which  were  many  strange 
birds  and  beasts.  I  recollect,  as  the  chief  objects 
of  my  admiration,  a  prodigious  swan,  a  wild  turkey, 
and  a  young  porcupine.  Venison  abounded,  and 
the  supply  was  both  plentiful  and  seasonable. 

"  Spring  returned  with  its  showers,"  and  con- 
verted our  Siberia,  frozen  and  forlorn,  and  shut  out 
from  human  intercourse,  into  an  uncultured  Eden, 
rich  in  all  the  majestic  charms  of  sublime  scenery, 
and  primaeval  beauty  and  fertility.  It  is  in  her 
central  retreat,  amidst  the  mighty  waters  of  the 
west,  that  nature  seems  in  solitary  grandeur  to  have 
chosen  her  most  favored  habitation,  remote  from 
the  ocean,  whose  waves  bear  the  restless  sons  of 
Europe  on  their  voyages  of  discovery,  invasion,  and 
intrusion.  The  coasts  of  America  are  indeed  com- 
paratively poor,  except  merely  on  the  banks  of  great 
rivers,  though  the  universal  veil  of  evergreens  con- 
ceals much  sterility  from  strangers.  But  it  is  in  the 
depth  of  those  forests,  and  around  these  sea-like 
lakes,  that  nature  has  been  profusely  kind,  and  dis- 
covers more  charms  the  more  her  shady  veil  is 
withdrawn  from  her  noble  features.  If  ever  the 
fond  illusions  of  poets  and  philosophers  —  that 
Atalantis,  that  new  Arcadia,  that  safe  and  serene 
Utopia,  where  ideal  quiet  and  happiness  have  so 
often  charmed  in  theory;  if  ever  this  dream  of 
social  bliss,  in  some  new-planted  region,  is  to  be 
realized,  this  unrivalled  scene  of  grandeur  and  fer- 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         73 

tility  bids  fairest  to  be  the  place  of  its  abode.  Here 
the  climate  is  serene  and  equal ;  the  rigorous  winters 
that  brace  the  frame,  and  call  forth  the  powers  of 
mind  and  body  to  prepare  for  its  approach,  are  suc- 
ceeded by  a  spring  so  rapid,  the  exuberance  of  vernal 
bloom  bursts  forth  so  suddenly,  after  the  disappear- 
ance of  those  deep  snows,  which  cherish  and  fructify 
the  earth,  that  the  change  seems  like  a  magical 
delusion. 

The  major  saw  every  one  enraptured,  like  people 
suddenly  let  out  of  prison ;  and  the  whole  garrison 
seemed  ripe  for  running  wild  through  the  woods, 
in  pursuit  of  innumerable  birds  of  passage,  which 
had  come  on  the  wings  of  the  genial  south  to  resume 
their  wonted  abodes  by  the  great  lakes,  where  they 
hatch  among  swamps  and  islands  without  number. 


Chapter  XI 

GARDENING    AND    AGRICULTURE  —  RETURN    OF 
THE   AUTHOR   TO   ALBANY 

THE  major  rejoiced  in  their  joy  without  having 
the  least  intention  of  indulging  them  either 
in  the  gay  idleness,  or  the  wild  sports  which  the 
season  inspired.  He  had  been  their  Mentor  all 
winter,  and  was  now  about  to  commence  their 
Agricola. 

When  giving  an  account  of  the  garrison  I  should 
have  mentioned  a  company  or  two,  I  do  not  re- 
member which,  of  engineers,  the  officers  of  which, 
from  their  superior  intelligence,  were  a  great  acqui- 
sition to  the  society.  To  these  friendly  coadjutors 
the  major  communicated  his  plans,  which  they 
readily  adopted.  Among  his  concealed  stores  were 
Indian  corn,  peas  and  beans  in  abundance,  and  all 
kinds  of  garden  seeds.  Before  the  season  opened 
he  had  arranged  with  these  engineers  the  plan  of  a 
large  garden,  bowling-green,  and  enclosed  field,  for 
the  use  of  these  and  all  succeeding  troops.  This 
was  a  bold  attempt  when  one  considers  that  you 
might  as  well  look  for  a  horse  in  Venice  as  in  Os- 
wego.  No  such  animal  had  ever  penetrated  so  far. 
A  single  cow,  belonging  to  the  sutler,  was  the  only 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY 


75 


tame  creature,  dogs  and  cats  excepted,  to  be  seen 
here.  But  there  was  a  great  stock  of  palisadoes, 
which  had  been  cut  for  the  garrison,  lying  ready ; 
and  their  pioneers  and  workmen  still  remaining 
there,  the  new  erection  being  scarce  complete.  The 
new  project  was  received  with  "  curses  not  loud  but 
deep."  Were  they  to  go  all  out  to  plod  and  drudge 
for  others,  who  would  neither  pay  nor  thank  them ; 
for,  at  most,  they  argued  they  should  stay  only  a 
year,  and  reap  very  little  indeed  of  the  fruit  of  their 
labors. 

The  major's  plans,  however,  were  deep  laid; 
matters  wore  a  peaceable  aspect;  and  there  was  no 
knowing  how  long  they  might  remain  there.  Ex- 
cept shooting  in  the  woods,  or  fishing,  they  were 
without  business,  pleasure,  or  varied  society.  He 
feared  the  men  would  degenerate  into  savage  wild- 
ness,  and  their  officers  into  that  sordid  indifference 
which  is  too  often  the  consequence  of  being,  at  the 
early  season  of  life,  without  an  aim  or  a  pursuit. 
He  wished  to  promote  a  common  interest,  and 
habits  social  and  domestic.  He  wished  too,  that 
they  might  make  some  advantage  of  this  temporary 
banishment,  to  lay  by  a  little  store  to  eke  out  their 
pittance  when  they  returned  to  more  expensive 
places ;  in  short,  he  wished  to  give  them  habits  of 
regular  economy,  which  should  be  useful  to  them 
ever  after.  He  showed  them  his  plans ;  gave  each 
of  them  a  department  in  overseeing  the  execution 
of  them ;  and,  for  that  purpose,  each  had  so  many 


76  MEMOIRS    OF 

men  allotted  to  his  command.  He  made  it  obvious 
to  them,  that  as  the  summer  was  merely  to  be  occu- 
pied in  gardening  and  the  chase,  the  parade  of  mili- 
tary dress  was  both  expensive  and  unnecessary.  In 
the  store  was  a  great  surplus  of  soldier's  coats. 
These  had  been  sent  from  Europe  to  supply  the 
regiment,  which  had  been  greatly  diminished  in 
number  by  the  fatal  lines,  and  succeeding  hard 
march.  The  major  ordered  the  regimental  tailor 
to  fit  these  as  a  kind  of  short  undress  frock  to  the 
officers,  to  whom  correspondent  little  round  hats, 
very  different  from  their  regimental  ones,  were 
allotted.  Thus  equipped,  and  animated  by  the 
spirit  of  him  who  ruled  their  minds  with  uncon- 
scious yet  unlimited  sway,  these  young  Cincinnati 
set  out,  nothing  loath,  on  their  horticultural  enter- 
prise. All  difficulties  soon  vanished  before  them; 
and,  in  a  very  few  days,  they  became  enthusiastic 
in  the  pursuit  of  this  new  object.  That  large  and 
fertile  portion  of  ground,  which  had  been  cleared  of 
the  timber  with  which  the  garrison  was  built,  was 
given  in  charge  to  a  sagacious  old  sergeant,  who 
knew  something  of  husbandry,  and  who  very  soon 
had  it  enclosed  in  a  palisade,  dug  up,  and  planted 
with  beans,  peas,  and  Indian  corn,  the  food  of  future 
pigs  and  poultry.  To  the  officers  more  interesting 
tasks  were  allotted.  There  was  more  than  one  gar- 
dener found  in  the  regiment ;  and  here  the  engineers 
and  pioneers  were  particularly  useful.  The  major, 
who  had  predestined  a  favorite  spot  for  his  ample 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY          77 

garden,  had  it  partially  cleared,  by  cutting  the  winter 
firing  of  the  garrison  from  it.  Where  a  mulberry, 
a  wild  plum,  or  cherry  tree  was  peculiarly  well-shaped 
or  large,  he  marked  it  to  remain,  as  well  as  some 
lofty  planes  and  chestnuts;  and  when  the  shrubs 
were  grubbed  up  in  spring,  he  left  many  beautiful 
ones  peculiar  to  the  country.  To  see  the  sudden 
creation  of  this  garden,  one  would  think  the  genius 
of  the  place  obeyed  the  wand  of  an  enchanter :  but 
it  is  not  every  gardener  who  can  employ  some  hun- 
dred men.  A  summer  house  in  a  tree,  a  fish-pond, 
and  a  gravel- walk,  were  finished  before  the  end  of 
May,  besides  having  committed  to  the  earth  great 
quantities  of  every  vegetable  production  known  in 
our  best  gardens.  These  vegetables  throve  beyond 
belief  or  example.  The  size  of  the  cabbages,  the 
cucumbers,  and  melons,  produced  here  was  incredi- 
ble. They  used,  in  the  following  years,  to  send 
them  down  to  astonish  us  at  Albany.  On  the  con- 
tinent they  were  not  equalled,  except  in  another 
military  garden,  which  emulation  had  produced  at 
Niagara.  The  major's  economical  views  were  fully 
answered.  Pigs  and  poultry  in  abundance  were 
procured,  and  supported  by  their  Indian  corn  crop ; 
they  even  procured  cows  and  made  hay  in  the 
islands  to  feed  them.  The  provisions  allowed  them 
by  the  public  afforded  a  sufficiency  of  flour,  butter, 
and  salt  meat,  as  also  rice.  The  lake  afforded  quan- 
tities of  excellent  fish,  much  of  which  the  soldiers 
dried  for  winter  consumption ;  and  fruit  and  vege- 


78  MEMOIRS    OF 

tables,  they  had  in  profusion,  from  their  gardens. 
In  short,  they  all  lived  in  a  kind  of  rough  luxury, 
and  were  enabled  to  save  much  of  their  pay.  The 
example  spread  to  all  the  line  of  forts ;  such  is  the 
power  of  one  active  liberal  mind  pursuing  its  object 
with  undeviating  steadiness. 

We  are  now  about  to  leave  Ontario ;  but  perhaps 
the  reader  is  not  willing  to  take  a  final  farewell  of 
Colonel  Duncan.  The  Indian  war  then,  which 
broke  out  after  the  peace  of  1762,  occasioned  the 
detention  of  the  regiment  in  America  till  1765  ;  and 
during  all  that  time  this  paternal  commander  con- 
tinued with  six  companies  of  the  regiment  at  On- 
tario, improving  both  the  soil  and  the  inhabitants. 
He  then  returned  with  the  regiment,  of  which  he 
was  become  lieutenant-colonel,  to  Ireland.  Soon 
after  he  retired  from  the  army,  and  took  up  his 
residence  on  the  family  estate  of  Lundie,  having 
previously  married  the  woman  of  his  heart,  who  had 
engaged  his  early  affections,  and  corresponded  with 
him  during  his  long  absence.  Here  he  was  as 
happy  as  a  shattered  invalid  could  be,  highly  re- 
spected by  the  neighborhood,  and  frequently  visited 
by  his  old  pupils,  who  still  regarded  him  with  warm 
attachment.  He  died  childless,  and  was  succeeded 
by  the  admiral,  on  whose  merit  it  is  needless  to 
expatiate ;  for  who  has  forgotten  the  victor  of  Cam- 
perdown  ? 

A  company  of  the  55th  was  this  summer  ordered 
to  occupy  the  fort  at  Albany.  This  was  com- 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY          79 

manded  by  a  sagacious  veteran  called  Winepress. 
My  father  did  not  exactly  belong  to  this  company, 
but  he  wished  to  return  to  Albany,  where  he  was 
known  and  liked :  and  the  colonel  thought,  from 
his  steadiness  and  experience,  he  would  be  particu- 
larly useful  in  paying  the  detached  parties,  and  pur- 
chasing for  the  regiment  such  stores  as  they  might 
have  occasion  for.  We  set  out  in  our  bateaux ;  and 
I  consoled  myself  for  not  only  leaving  Oswego,  but 
what  was  nearer  my  heart,  a  tame  partridge  and  six 
pigeons,  by  the  hopes  of  wandering  through  Wood 
creek,  and  sleeping  in  the  woods.  In  both  these 
particulars  I  was  disappointed.  Our  boats  being 
lighter,  made  better  way,  and  we  were  received  in 
new  settlements  a  little  distant  from  the  river.  The 
most  important  occurrence  to  me  happened  the  first 
day.  On  that  evening  we  returned  to  Fort  Brewer- 
ton  ; l  I  found  Captain  Campbell  delighted  with  my 
reading,  my  memory,  and  my  profound  admiration 
of  the  friendship  betwixt  David  and  Jonathan.  We 
staid  the  most  of  the  next  day.  I  was  much  cap- 
tivated with  the  copper-plates  in  an  edition  of  Para- 
dise Lost,  which,  on  that  account,  he  had  given  me 
to  admire.  When  I  was  coming  away  he  said  to 
me,  "  Keep  that  book,  my  dear  child ;  I  foretell  that 
the  time  will  come  when  you  will  take  pleasure  in 
it."  Never  did  a  present  produce  such  joy  and 

1  Fort  Brewerton  was  one  of  the  line  of  English  fortifications  between 
Oswego  and  the  Mohawk  valley,  situated  on  the  shore  of  Oneida  out- 
let, opposite  the  present  village  of  Brewerton,  144  miles  north-west 
from  Albany. 


8o  MEMOIRS 

gratitude.  I  thought  I  was  dreaming,  and  looked 
at  it  a  hundred  times,  before  I  could  believe  any- 
thing so  fine  was  really  my  own.  I  tried  to  read 
it  and  almost  cried  with  vexation  when  I  found 
I  could  not  understand  it.  At  length  I  quitted 
it  in  despair;  yet  always  said  to  myself,  I  shall 
be  wiser  next  year. 


Chapter  XII 

MADAME'S   FAMILY  AND   SOCIETY   DESCRIBED 

THE  next  year  (1762)  came,  and  found  me  at 
Albany  ;  if  not  wiser,  more  knowing.  Again 
I  was  shut  up  in  a  fort,  solemn  and  solitary ;  I  had 
no  companion,  and  was  never  allowed  to  go  out, 
except  with  my  mother,  and  that  was  very  seldom 
indeed.  All  the  fine  forenoons  I  sat  and  sewed; 
and  when  others  went  to  play  in  the  evening,  I  was 
very  often  sent  up  to  a  large  waste  room,  to  get  a 
long  task  by  heart  of  something  very  grave  and 
repulsive.  In  this  waste  room,  however,  lay  an  old 
tattered  dictionary,  Bailey's  I  think,  which  proved  a 
treasure  to  me ;  the  very  few  books  we  had,  being 
all  religious  or  military.  I  had  returned  to  my 
Milton,  which  I  conned  so  industriously,  that  I 
got  it  almost  by  heart,  as  far  as  I  went ;  yet  took 
care  to  go  no  farther  than  I  understood.  To  make 
out  this  point,  when  any  one  encouraged  me  by 
speaking  kindly  to  me,  I  was  sure  to  ask  the  mean- 
ing of  some  word  or  phrase;  and  when  I  found 
people  were  not  at  all  willing  or  able  to  gratify  me,  I 
at  length  had  recourse  to  my  waste  room  and  tattered 
dictionary,  which  I  found  a  perpetual  fountain  of 
knowledge.  Consequently  the  waste  room,  for- 


VOL.  II.  — 6 


82  MEMOIRS    OF 

merly  a  gloomy  prison,  which  I  thought  of  with 
horror,  became  now  the  scene  of  all  my  enjoyment; 
and  the  moment  I  was  dismissed  from  my  task,  I 
flew  to  it  with  anticipated  delight ;  for  there  were 
my  treasure,  Milton  and  the  ragged  dictionary, 
which  was  now  become  the  light  of  my  eyes.  I 
studied  the  dictionary  with  indefatigable  diligence ; 
which  I  begun  now  to  consider  as  very  entertaining. 
I  was  extremely  sorry  for  the  fallen  angels,  deeply 
interested  in  their  speeches,  and  so  well  acquainted 
with  their  names,  that  I  could  have  called  the  roll 
of  them  with  all  the  ease  imaginable.  Time  run 
on,  I  was  eight  years  old,  and  quite  uneducated, 
except  reading  and  plain-work  ;  when  company 
came  I  was  considered  as  in  the  way,  and  sent  up 
to  my  waste  room  ;  but  here  lay  my  whole  pleasure, 
for  I  had  neither  companions  nor  amusement.  It 
was,  however,  talked  of,  that  I  should  go  to  a  con- 
vent, at  Trois  Rivieres,  in  Canada,  where  several 
officers  had  sent  their  daughters  to  be  educated. 

The  fame  of  Aunt  Schuyler  every  now  and  then 
reached  my  ears,  and  sunk  deep  in  my  mind.  To 
see  her  I  thought  was  a  happiness  too  great  for  me ; 
and  I  was  continually  drawing  pictures  of  her  to  my- 
self. Meanwhile  the  iyth  regiment  arrived;  and  a 
party  of  them  took  possession  of  the  fort.  During 
this  interim,  peace  had  been  proclaimed;  and  the 
55th  regiment  were  under  orders  for  Britain. 

My  father,  not  being  satisfied  with  the  single 
apartment  allotted  to  him  by  the  new  comers, 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY  83 

removed  to  the  town ;  where  a  friend  of  his,  a 
Scotch  merchant,  gave  him  a  lodging  in  his  own 
house,  next  to  that  very  Madame  Schuyler  who 
had  been  so  long  my  daily  thoughts  and  nightly 
dreams.  We  had  not  been  long  there  when  aunt 
heard  that  my  father  was  a  good,  plain,  upright 
man,  without  pretensions,  but  very  well  principled. 
She  sent  a  married  lady,1  the  wife  of  her  favorite 
nephew,  who  resided  with  her  at  the  time,  to  ask  us 
to  spend  the  evening  with  her.  I  think  I  have  not 
been  on  any  occasion  more  astonished,  than  when, 
with  no  little  awe  and  agitation,  I  came  into  the 
presence  of  Madame.  She  was  sitting ;  and  filled 
a  great  chair,  from  which  she  seldom  moved.  Her 
aspect  was  composed,  and  her  manner  such  as  was, 
at  first,  more  calculated  to  inspire  respect,  than  con- 
ciliate affection.  Not  having  the  smallest  solicitude 
about  what  people  thought  of  her,  and  having  her 
mind  generally  occupied  with  matters  of  weighty 
concern,  the  first  expression  of  her  kindness  seemed 
rather  a  lofty  courtesy,  than  attractive  affability; 
but  she  shone  out  by  degrees;  and  she  was  sure 
eventually  to  please  every  one  worth  pleasing,  her 
conversation  was  so  rich,  so  various,  so  informing ; 
everything  she  said  bore  such  a  stamp  of  reality ; 
her  character  had  such  a  grasp  in  it.  Her  expres- 

1  Aunt  Schuyler's  favorite  nephew  was  Philip  Cuyler,  who  mar- 
ried Sarah  Tweedy  of  Newport,  Rhode  Island.  Their  daughter 
Cathaline  Sophia,  born  January  19,  1766,  was  the  wife  of  John  Van 
Cortlandt,  a  great-grandson  of  Stephanus,  first  proprietor  of  Cortlandt 
Manor. 


84  MEMOIRS    OF 

sions  not  from  art  and  study,  but  from  the  clear 
perceptions  of  her  sound  and  strong  mind,  were 
powerful,  distinct,  and  exactly  adapted  to  the  occa- 
sion. You  saw  her  thoughts  as  they  occurred  to  her 
mind,  without  the  usual  bias  rising  from  either  a 
fear  to  offend,  or  a  wish  to  please.  This  was  one 
of  the  secrets  in  which  lay  the  singular  power  of  her 
conversation.  When  ordinary  people  speak  to  you, 
your  mind  wanders  in  search  of  the  motives  that 
prompt  their  discourse,  or  the  views  and  prejudices 
which  bias  it ;  when  those  who  excite  (and  perhaps 
solicit)  admiration  talk,  you  are  secretly  asking 
yourself  whether  they  mean  to  inform,  or  dazzle 
you.  All  this  interior  canvass  vanished  before  the 
evident  truth  and  unstudied  ease  of  aunt's  discourse. 
On  a  nearer  knowledge,  too,  you  found  she  was 
much  more  intent  to  serve,  than  please  you,  and 
too  much  engrossed  by  her  endeavors  to  do  so,  to 
stop  and  look  round  for  your  gratitude,  which  she 
heeded  just  as  little  as  your  admiration.  In  short, 
she  informed,  enlightened,  and  served  you,  without 
levying  on  you  any  tribute  whatever,  except  the 
information  you  could  give  in  return.  I  describe 
her  appearance  as  it  then  struck  me ;  and,  once  for 
all,  her  manners  and  conversation,  as  I  thought  of 
them  when  I  was  older  and  knew  better  how  to 
distinguish  and  appreciate.  Everything  about  her 
was  calculated  to  increase  the  impression  of  respect 
and  admiration ;  which,  from  the  earliest  dawn  of 
reflection,  I  had  been  taught  to  entertain  for  her. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY  85 

Her  house  was  the  most  spacious  and  best  fur- 
nished I  had  ever  entered.  The  family  pictures, 
and  scripture  paintings,  were  to  me  particularly  awful 
and  impressive.  I  compared  them  to  the  models 
which  had  before  existed  in  my  imagination,  and 
was  delighted  or  mortified,  as  I  found  they  did  or 
did  not  resemble  them. 

The  family  with  which  she  was  then  surrounded, 
awakened  a  more  than  common  interest.  Her 
favorite  nephew,  the  eldest  son  of  her  much  beloved 
sister,  had,  by  his  father's  desire,  entered  into  part- 
nership in  a  great  commercial  house  in  New  York. 
Smitten  with  the  uncommon  beauty  of  a  young  lady 
of  seventeen,  from  Rhode  Island,  he  had  married 
her  without  waiting  for  the  consent  of  his  relations. 
Had  he  lived  in  Albany,  and  connected  himself 
with  one  of  his  fellow  citizens,  bred  up  in  frugal 
simplicity,  this  step  might  have  been  easily  got  over. 
But  an  expensive  and  elegant  style  of  living  begun 
already  to  take  place  in  New  York;  which  was, 
from  the  residence  of  the  governor  and  commander 
in  chief,  become  the  seat  of  a  little  court.  The  lady 
whom  Philip  had  married,  was  of  a  family  originally 
Scotch  :  and  derived  her  descent  at  no  great  distance 
from  one  of  the  noblest  families  in  that  country.1 
Gay,  witty,  and  very  engaging,  beloved  and  indulged, 
beyond  measure,  by  a  fond  husband,  who  was  gen- 
erous and  good-natured  to  excess,  this  young  beauty 
became  "  the  glass  of  fashion,  and  the  mould  of 

1  Earl  of  Crawford's Mrs.  Grant. 


86  MEMOIRS    OF 

form."  And  the  house  of  this  amiable  couple  was 
the  resort  of  all  that  was  gay  and  elegant,  and  the 
centre  of  attraction  to  strangers.  The  mayor,  who 
was  a  person  singularly  judicious,  and  most  impartial 
in  the  affection  which  he  distributed  among  his  large 
family,  saw  clearly  that  the  young  people  trusted 
too  much  to  the  wealth  he  was  known  to  possess, 
and  had  got  into  a  very  expensive  style  of  living ; 
which,  on  examining  their  affairs,  he  did  not  think 
likely  to  be  long  supported  by  the  profits  of  the 
business  in  which  his  son  was  engaged.  The  prob- 
able consequence  of  a  failure,  he  saw,  would  so  far 
involve  him  as  to  injure  his  own  family :  this  he 
prevented.  Peace  was  daily  expected  :  and  the  very 
existence  of  the  business  in  which  he  was  engaged, 
depended  on  the  army ;  which  his  house  was  wont 
to  furnish  with  everything  necessary.  He  clearly 
foresaw  the  withdrawing  of  this  army ;  and  that 
the  habits  of  open  hospitality  and  expensive  living 
would  remain,  when  the  sources  of  their  present 
supplies  were  dried  up.  He  insisted  on  his  son's 
entirely  quitting  this  line,  and  retiring  to  Albany. 
He  loaded  a  ship  on  his  own  account  for  the  West 
Indies,  and  sent  the  young  man,  as  supercargo,  to 
dispose  of  the  lading.  As  house-keeping  was  given 
up  in  New  York,  and  not  yet  resumed  in  Albany, 
this  young  creature  had  only  the  option  of  returning 
to  the  large  family  she  had  left,  or  going  to  her 
father-in-law's.  Aunt  Schuyler,  ever  generous  and 
considerate,  had  every  allowance  to  make  for  the 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY  87 

high  spirit  and  fine  feelings  of  this  inexperienced 
young  creature ;  and  invited  her,  with  her  little 
daughter,  to  remain  with  her  till  her  husband's 
return.  Nothing  could  be  more  pleasing  than  to 
witness  the  maternal  tenderness  and  delicate  confi- 
dence, which  appeared  in  the  behavior  of  Madame 
to  this  new  inmate,  whose  fine  countenance  seemed 
animated  with  the  liveliest  gratitude,  and  the  utmost 
solicitude  to  please  her  revered  benefactress.  The 
child  was  a  creature  not  to  be  seen  with  indifference. 
The  beauty  and  understanding  that  appeared  full 
blown  in  her  mother  seemed  budding  with  the 
loveliest  promise  in  the  young  Catalina ;  a  child 
whom,  to  this  day,  I  cannot  recollect  without  an 
emotion  of  tenderness.  She  was  then  about  three 
years  old.  Besides  these  interesting  strangers,  there 
was  a  grand-niece  whom  she  had  brought  up.  Such 
was  her  family  when  I  first  knew  it.  In  the  course 
of  the  evening,  dreams  began  to  be  talked  of;  and 
every  one  in  turn  gave  their  opinion  with  regard  to 
that  wonderful  mode,  in  which  the  mind  acts  inde- 
pendent of  the  senses,  asserting  its  immaterial  nature 
in  a  manner  the  most  conclusive.  I  mused  and 
listened,  till  at  length  the  spirit  of  quotation  (which 
very  early  began  to  haunt  me)  moved  me  to  repeat, 
from  Paradise  Lost, 

"  When  nature  rests, 

Oft  in  her  absence  mimic  fancy  wakes,  to  imitate  her, 
But  misjoining  shapes,  wild  work  produces  oft." 

I  sat  silent  when  my  bolt  was  shot ;  but  so  did  not 
Madame.  Astonished  to  hear  her  favorite  author 


88  MEMOIRS    OF 

quoted  readily,  by  so  mere  a  child,  she  attached 
much  more  importance  to  the  circumstance  than  it 
deserved.  So  much,  indeed,  that  long  after,  she 
used  to  repeat  it  to  strangers  in  my  presence,  by 
way  of  accounting  for  the  great  fancy  she  had  taken 
to  me.  These  partial  repetitions  of  hers  fixed  this 
lucky  quotation  indelibly  in  my  mind.  Any  person 
who  has  ever  been  in  love,  and  has  unexpectedly 
heard  that  sweetest  of  all  music  the  praise  of  his 
beloved,  may  judge  of  my  sensations  when  Madame 
began  to  talk  with  enthusiasm  of  Milton.  The 
bard  of  Paradise  was  indeed  "the  dweller  of  my 
secret  soul ; "  and  it  never  was  my  fortune  before  to 
meet  with  any  one  who  understood  or  relished  him. 
I  knew  very  well  that  the  divine  spirit  was  his 
Urania.  But  I  took  his  invocation  quite  literally, 
and  had  not  the  smallest  doubt  of  his  being  as  much 
inspired  as  ever  Isaiah  was.  This  was  a  very  hope- 
ful opening ;  yet  I  was  much  too  simple  and  too 
humble  to  expect  that  I  should  excite  the  attention 
of  Madame.  My  ambition  aimed  at  nothing  higher 
than  winning  the  heart  of  the  sweet  Catalina ;  and 
I  thought  if  heaven  had  given  me  such  another 
little  sister,  and  enabled  me  to  teach  her,  in  due 
time,  to  relish  Milton,  I  should  have  nothing  left 
to  ask. 

Time  went  on ;  we  were  neighbors,  and  became 
intimate  in  the  family.  I  was  beloved  by  Catalina, 
caressed  by  her  charming  mother,  and  frequently 
noticed  by  aunt,  whom  I  very  much  inclined  to 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         89 

love,  were  it  not  that  it  seemed  to  me  as  if,  in  so 
doing,  I  should  aspire  too  high.  Yet  in  my  visits 
to  her,  where  I  had  now  a  particular  low  chair  in  a 
corner  assigned  me,  I  had  great  enjoyments  of  vari- 
ous kinds.  First,  I  met  there  with  all  those  strangers 
or  inhabitants  who  were  particularly  respectable  for 
their  character  or  conversation.  Then  I  was  wit- 
ness to  a  thousand  acts  of  beneficence  that  charmed 
me,  I  could  not  well  say  why,  not  having  learned 
to  analyze  my  feelings.  Then  I  met  with  the 
Spectator  and  a  few  other  suitable  books,  which  I 
read  over  and  over  with  unwearied  diligence,  not 
having  the  least  idea  of  treating  a  book  as  a  play- 
thing, to  be  thrown  away  when  the  charm  of  novelty 
was  past.  I  was  by  degrees  getting  into  favor  with 
Aunt  Schuyler,  when  a  new  arrival  for  a  while  sus- 
pended the  growing  intimacy.  I  allude  to  the 
colonel  of  my  father's  regiment,  who  had  removed 
from.  Crown  Point  to  Albany. 

The  colonel  was  a  married  man,  whose  wife,  like 
himself,  had  passed  her  early  days  in  a  course  of 
frivolous  gaiety.  They  were  now  approaching  the 
decline  of  life,  and  finding  nothing  pleasing  in  the 
retrospect  nor  flattering  in  prospect,  time  hung  on 
their  hands.  Where  nothing  round  them  was  con- 
genial to  their  habits,  they  took  a  fancy  to  have 
me  frequently  with  them  as  matter  of  amusement. 
They  had  had  children,  and  when  they  died  their 
mutual  affection  died  with  them.  They  had  had  a 
fortune,  and  when  it  was  spent  all  their  pleasures 


9o  MEMOIRS 

were  exhausted.  They  were  by  this  time  drawing 
out  the  vapid  dregs  of  a  tasteless  existence,  without 
energy  to  make  themselves  feared,  or  those  gentle 
and  amiable  qualities  which  attract  love  :  yet  they 
were  not  stained  with  gross  vices,  and  were  people 
of  character  as  the  world  goes. 

What  a  new  world  was  I  entered  into  !  From 
the  quiet  simplicity  of  my  home,  where  I  heard 
nothing  but  truth,  and  saw  nothing  but  innocence  ; 
and  from  my  good  friend's  respectable  mansion, 
where  knowledge  reflected  light  upon  virtue,  and 
where  the  hours  were  too  few  for  their  occupation ; 
to  be  a  daily  witness  of  the  manner  in  which  these 
listless  ghosts  of  departed  fashion  and  gaiety  drank 
up  the  bitter  lees  of  misused  time,  fortune,  and 
capacity.  Never  was  lesson  more  impressive ;  and 
young  as  I  was,  I  did  not  fail  to  mark  the  contrast, 
and  draw  the  obvious  inference.  From  this  hope- 
ful school  I  was  set  free  the  following  summer  (when 
I  had  entered  on  my  ninth  year),  by  the  colonel's 
return  to  England.  They  were,  indeed,  kind  to 
me;  but  the  gratitude  I  could  not  but  feel  was  a 
sentiment  independent  of  attachment,  and  early 
taught  me  how  difficult  it  is,  nay  how  painful,  to 
disjoin  esteem  from  gratitude. 


Chapter  XIII 

SIR  JEFFREY  AMHERST  — MUTINY -INDIAN  WAR 

AT  this  time  (1765)  peace  had  been  for  some 
time  established  in  Europe ;  but  the  ferment 
and  agitation  which  even  the  lees  and  sediments  of 
war  kept  up  in  the  northern  colonies,  and  the  many 
regulations  requisite  to  establish  quiet  and  security 
in  the  new  acquired  Canadian  territory,  required  all 
the  care  and  prudence  of  the  commander-in-chief, 
and  no  little  time.  At  this  crisis,  for  such  it  proved, 
Sir  Jeffrey,  afterwards  Lord  Amherst,  came  up  to 
Albany.1  A  mutiny  had  broke  out  among  the 
troops  on  account  of  withholding  the  provisions 
they  used  to  receive  in  time  of  actual  war ;  and  this 
discontent  was  much  aggravated  by  their  finding 
themselves  treated  with  a  coldness,  amounting  to 

1  Jeffrey  Amherst  was  born  in  England,  29  January,  1717,  and  early 
devoted  himself  to  the  profession  of  arms.  He  distinguished  himself 
on  the  continent,  and  in  1758,  was  appointed  to  the  American  service 
with  the  rank  of  major-general,  and  captured  Louisbourg.  He  suc- 
ceeded Abercrombie,  and  in  1759  took  Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point. 
It  is  related  of  him  as  an  instance  of  his  activity  and  energy,  that 
he  came  down  from  Lake  George  on  foot,  ist  January,  1759,  and 
proceeded  on  to  New  York  afoot,  with  a  few  of  his  officers  and  sol- 
diers ("  Legacy  of  Historical  Gleanings,"  I,  33).  He  saw  the  whole 
continent  of  North  America  reduced  in  subjection  to  Great  Britain,  and 
was  loaded  with  title  and  honors  by  the  government.  He  died 
3  August,  1797,  aged  81. 


92  MEMOIRS    OF 

aversion,  by  the  people  of  the  country ;  who  now 
forgot  past  services,  and  showed  in  all  transactions  a 
spirit  of  dislike  bordering  on  hostility  to  their  pro- 
tectors, on  whom  they  no  longer  felt  themselves 
dependent. 

Sir  Jeffrey,  however,  was  received  like  a  prince  at 
Albany,  respect  for  his  private  character  conquering 
the  anti-military  prejudice.  The  commander-m- 
chief  was  in  those  days  a  great  man  on  the  conti- 
nent, having,  on  account  of  the  distance  from  the 
seat  of  government,  much  discretionary  power  in- 
trusted to  him.  Never  was  it  more  safely  lodged 
than  in  the  hands  of  this  judicious  veteran,  whose 
comprehension  of  mind,  impartiality,  steadiness,  and 
close  application  to  business,  peculiarly  fitted  him 
for  his  important  station.  At  his  table  all  strangers 
were  entertained  with  the  utmost  liberality ;  while 
his  own  singular  temperance,  early  hours,  and  strict 
morals,  were  peculiarly  calculated  to  render  him 
popular  among  the  old  inhabitants.  Here  I  wit- 
nessed an  impressive  spectacle  :  the  guard-house  was 
in  the  middle  of  the  street,  opposite  to  Madame's ; 
there  was  a  guard  extraordinary  mounted  in  honor 
of  Sir  Jeffrey ;  at  the  hour  of  changing  it  all  the 
soldiery  in  the  fort  assembled  there,  and  laid  down 
their  arms,  refusing  to  take  them  up  again.  I  shall 
never  forget  the  pale  and  agitated  countenances  of 
the  officers  ;  they  being  too  well  assured  that  it  was 
a  thing  preconcerted ;  which  was  actually  the  case, 
for  at  Crown  Point  and  Quebec  the  same  thing  was 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY          93 

done  on  the  same  day.  Sir  Jeffrey  came  down,  and 
made  a  calm  dispassionate  speech  to  them,  promis- 
ing them  a  continuance  of  their  privileges  till  further 
orders  from  home,  and  offering  pardon  to  the  whole, 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  ringleaders,  whose  lives, 
however,  were  spared.  This  gentle  dealing  had  its 
due  effect;  but  at  Quebec  the  mutiny  assumed  a 
most  alarming  aspect,  and  had  more  serious  conse- 
quences, though  it  was  in  the  end  quelled.  All 
this  time  Sir  Jeffrey's  visits  to  Madame  had  been 
frequent,  both  out  of  respect  to  her  character  and 
conversation,  and  to  reap  the  benefit  of  her  local 
knowledge  on  an  approaching  emergency.  This 
was  a  spirit  of  disaffection,  then  only  suspected, 
among  the  Indians  on  the  Upper  Lakes,  which 
soon  after  broke  suddenly  out  into  open  hostility. 
In  consequence  of  her  opinion  he  summoned  Sir 
W.  Johnson  to  concert  some  conciliatory  measures. 
But  the  commencement  of  the  war  at  this  very 
crisis,  detained  him  longer  to  arrange  with  General 
Bradstreet  and  Sir  William  the  operations  of  the 
ensuing  campaign. 

This  war  broke  out  very  opportunely  in  some 
respects.  It  afforded  a  pretext  for  granting  those 
indulgences  to  the  troops,  which  it  would  otherwise 
have  been  impolitic  to  give  and  unsafe  to  withhold. 
It  furnished  occupation  for  an  army  too  large  to  lie 
idle  so  far  from  the  source  of  authority,  which  could 
not  yet  be  safely  withdrawn  till  matters  were  on  a 
more  stable  footing ;  and  it  made  the  inhabitants  at 


94  MEMOIRS    OF 

once  more  sensible  of  their  protection.  Madame 
had  predicted  this  event,  knowing  better  than  any 
one  how  the  affections  of  these  tribes  might  be  lost 
or  won.  She  well  knew  the  probable  consequences 
of  the  negligence  with  which  they  were  treated,  since 
the  subjection  of  Canada  made  us  consider  them  as 
no  longer  capable  of  giving  us  trouble.  Pontiac, 
chief  of  those  nations  who  inhabited  the  borders  of 
the  great  lakes,  possessed  one  of  those  minds  which 
break  through  all  disadvantages  to  assert  their  innate 
superiority. 

The  rise  and  conduct  of  this  war,  were  I  able  to 
narrate  them  distinctly,  the  reader  would  perhaps 
scarce  have  patience  to  attend  to ;  indistinct  as  they 
must  appear,  retraced  from  my  broked  recollections. 
Could  I,  however,  do  justice  to  the  bravery,  the 
conduct,  and  magnanimity  in  some  instances,  and 
the  singular  address  and  stratagem  in  others,  which 
this  extraordinary  person  displayed  in  the  course  of 
it,  the  power  of  untutored  intellect  would  appear 
incredible  to  those  who  never  saw  man  but  in  an 
artificial  or  degraded  state,  exalted  by  science  or  de- 
based by  conscious  ignorance  and  inferiority.  During 
the  late  war  Pontiac  occupied  a  central  situation, 
bounded  on  each  side  by  the  French  and  English 
territories.  His  uncommon  sagacity  taught  him  to 
make  the  most  of  his  local  advantages,  and  of  that 
knowledge  of  the  European  character  which  resulted 
from  this  neighborhood.  He  had  that  sort  of  con- 
sequence which  in  the  last  century  raised  the  able 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         95 

and  politic  princes  of  the  house  of  Savoy  to  the 
throne  they  have  since  enjoyed.  Pontiac  held  a 
petty  balance  between  two  great  contending  powers. 
Even  the  privilege  of  passing  through  his  territories 
was  purchased  with  presents,  promises  and  flatteries. 
While  the  court  which  was  paid  to  this  wily  warrior, 
to  secure  his  alliance,  or  at  least  his  neutrality,  made 
him  too  sensible  of  his  own  consequence,  it  gave 
him  a  near  view  of  our  policy  and  modes  of  life. 
He  often  passed  some  time,  on  various  pretexts,  by 
turns  at  Montreal  and  in  the  English  camp.  The 
subjection  of  Canada  proved  fatal  to  his  power,  and 
he  could  no  longer  play  the  skillful  game  between 
both  nations  which  had  been  so  long  carried  on. 
The  general  advantage  of  his  tribe  is  always  the 
uppermost  thought  with  an  Indian.  The  liberal 
presents  which  he  had  received  from  both  parties, 
afforded  him  the  means  of  confederating  with  distant 
nations,  of  whose  alliance  he  thought  to  profit  in  his 
meditated  hostilities. 

There  were  at  that  time  many  tribes,  then  un- 
known to  Europeans,  on  the  banks  of  Lake  Supe- 
rior, to  whom  fire-arms  and  other  British  goods  were 
captivating  novelties.  When  the  French  insidiously 
built  the  fort  of  Detroit,  and  the  still  more  detached 
one  of  Michilimackinac,  on  bounds  hitherto  unde- 
fined, they  did  it  on  the  footing  of  having  secure 
places  of  trade,  not  to  overawe  the  natives,  but  to 
protect  themselves  from  the  English.  They  amply 
rewarded  them  for  permission  to  erect  these  for- 


96  MEMOIRS    OF 

tresses,  and  purchased  at  any  expense  that  friend- 
ship from  them  without  which  it  would  have  been 
impossible  to  have  maintained  their  ground  in  these 
remote  regions.  All  this  liberality  and  flattery, 
though  merely  founded  on  self-interest,  had  its 
effect ;  and  the  French,  who  are  ever  versatile  and 
accommodating,  who  wore  the  Huron  dress,  and 
spoke  the  Huron  language  when  they  had  any  pur- 
pose to  serve,  were  without  doubt  the  favored  nation. 
We,  too  apt  to  despise  all  foreigners,  and  not  over 
complaisant  even  when  we  have  a  purpose  to  serve, 
came  with  a  high  hand  to  occupy  those  forts  which 
we  considered  as  our  right  after  the  conquest 
of  Canada,  but  which  had  been  always  held  by 
the  more  crafty  French  as  an  indulgence.  These 
troops,  without  ceremony,  appropriated,  and  fol- 
lowing Major  Duncan's  example,  cultivated  all  the 
fertile  lands  around  Detroit,  as  far  as  fancy  or  con- 
venience led  them.  The  lands  round  Ontario  were 
in  a  different  predicament,  being  regularly  purchased 
by  Sir  William  Johnson.  In  consequence  of  the 
peace  which  had  taken  place  the  year  before,  all  the 
garrisons  were  considered  as  in  a  state  of  perfect 
security. 

Pontiac,  in  the  meantime,  conducted  himself  with 
the  utmost  address,  concealing  the  indignation  which 
brooded  in  his  mind  under  the  semblance  of  the 
greatest  frankness  and  good  humor.  Master  of 
various  languages,  and  most  completely  master  of 
his  temper  and  countenance,  he  was  at  home  every- 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         97 

where,  and  paid  frequent  friendly  visits  to  Detroit, 
near  which,  in  the  finest  country  imaginable,  was 
his  abode.  He  frequently  dined  with  the  mess,  and 
sent  them  fish  and  venison.  Unlike  other  Indians, 
his  manner  appeared  frank  and  communicative, 
which  opened  the  minds  of  others  and  favored  his 
deep  designs.  He  was  soon  master,  through  their 
careless  conversation,  of  all  he  wished  to  know 
relative  to  the  stores,  resources,  and  intentions  of 
the  troops.  Madame,  who  well  knew  the  Indian 
character  in  general,  and  was  no  stranger  to  the 
genius  and  abilities  of  Pontiac,  could  not  be  satis- 
fied with  the  manner  in  which  he  was  neglected  on 
one  hand,  nor  his  easy  admission  to  the  garrison  on 
the  other.  She  always  said  they  should  either  make 
him  their  friend,  or  know  him  to  be  their  foe. 

In  the  meanwhile  no  one  could  be  more  busy 
than  this  politic  warrior.  While  the  Indians  were 
in  strict  alliance  with  the  French,  they  had  their 
wigwams  and  their  Indian  corn  within  sight  of  the 
fort,  lived  in  a  considerable  kind  of  village  on  the 
border  of  the  lake,  and  had  a  daily  intercourse  of 
traffic  and  civility  with  the  troops.  There  was  a 
large  esplanade  before  the  garrison,  where  the  Indians 
and  soldiers  sometimes  socially  played  at  ball  to- 
gether. Pontiac  had  a  double  view  in  his  intended 
hostility.  The  Canadian  priests,  with  the  wonted 
restless  intriguing  spirit  of  their  nation,  fomented 
the  discontents  of  the  Indians.  They  persuaded 
them,  and  perhaps  flattered  themselves,  that  if  they 

VOL.  II.  — 7 


98  MEMOIRS 

(the  Indians)  would  seize  the  chain  of  forts,  the 
grand  monarque  would  send  a  fleet  to  reconquer 
Canada,  and  guaranty  all  the  forts  he  should  take 
to  Pontiac.  Upon  this  he  did  not  altogether  de- 
pend :  yet  he  thought  if  he  could  surprise  Detroit, 
and  seize  a  vessel  which  was  expected  up  from  Os- 
wego  with  ammunition  and  stores,  he  might  easily 
take  the  other  small  vessels,  and  so  command  the 
lake.  This  would  be  shut  up  by  ice  for  the  winter, 
and  it  would  take  no  little  time  to  build  on  its 
banks  another  fleet,  the  only  means  by  which  an 
army  could  again  approach  the  place.  I  will  not 
attempt  to  lead  my  reader  through  all  the  intricacies 
of  an  Indian  war  (entirely  such),  and  therefore  of 
all  wars  the  most  incomprehensible  in  its  progress, 
and  most  difficult  in  its  terms.  The  result  of  two 
master-strokes  of  stratagem,  with  which  it  opened, 
are  such  as  are  curious  enough,  however,  to  find  a 
place  in  this  detail. 


Chapter  XIV 

PONTIAC  — SIR   ROBERT  DAVERS 

ALL  the  distant  tribes  were  to  join  on  hearing 
Pontiac  was  in  possession  of  the  fort.  Many 
of  those  nearest,  in  the  meanwhile,  were  to  lie  in 
the  neighboring  woods,  armed  and  ready  to  rush 
out  on  the  discharge  of  a  cannon,  on  that  day  which 
was  meant  to  be  fatal  to  the  garrison.  Out  of  the 
intended  massacre,  however,  the  artillery  were  to  be 
spared  that  they  might  work  the  guns.  Near  the 
fort  lived  a  much  admired  Indian  beauty,  who  was 
known  in  the  garrison  by  the  name  of  the  Queen  of 
Hearts.  She  not  only  spoke  French,  but  dressed 
not  inelegantly  in  the  European  manner,  and  being 
sprightly  and  captivating  was  encouraged  by  Pontiac 
to  go  into  the  garrison  on  various  pretexts.  The 
advantage  the  Indian  chief  meant  to  derive  from 
this  stratagem  was,  that  she  might  be  a  kind  of  spy 
in  the  fort,  and  that  by  her  influence  over  the  com- 
mander, the  wonted  caution  with  regard  to  Indians 
might  be  relaxed,  and  the  soldiers  be  permitted  to 
go  out  unarmed  and  mingle  in  their  diversions. 
This  plan  in  some  degree  succeeded.  There  was  at 
length  a  day  fixed,  on  which  a  great  match  at  foot- 
ball was  to  be  decided  between  two  parties  of  Indi- 
ans, and  all  the  garrisons  were  invited  to  be  spectators. 


ioo  MEMOIRS     OF 

It  was  to  be  played  on  the  esplanade  opposite  to 
the  fort.  At  a  given  signal  the  ball  was  to  be 
driven  over  the  wall  of  the  fort,  which,  as  there  was 
no  likelihood  of  its  ever  being  attacked  by  cannon, 
was  merely  a  pallisade  and  earthen  breast-work. 
The  Indians  were  to  run  hastily  in,  on  pretence  of 
recovering  the  bajl,  and  shut  the  gate  against  the 
soldiers,  whom  Pontiac  and  his  people  were  to 
tomahawk  immediately. 

Pontiac,  jealous  of  the  Queen  of  Hearts,  gave 
orders,  after  she  was  let  into  the  secret  of  this  strat- 
agem, that  she  should  go  no  more  into  the  fort. 
Whether  she  was  offended  by  this  want  of  con- 
fidence ;  whether  her  humanity  revolted  at  the 
intended  massacre,  or  whether  she  really  felt  a  par- 
ticular attachment  prevailing  over  her  fidelity  to 
her  countrymen,  so  it  was ;  her  affection  got  the 
better  of  her  patriotism.  A  soldier's  wife,  who 
carried  out  to  her  the  day  before  some  article  of 
dress  she  had  made  for  her,  was  the  medium  she 
made  use  of  to  convey  a  hint  of  the  intended  treach- 
ery. The  colonel  was  unwilling  from  the  dark  hint 
conveyed,  to  have  recourse  to  any  violent  measures ; 
and  was,  indeed,  doubtful  of  the  fact.  To  kindle 
the  flames  of  war  wantonly,  surrounded,  as  he  was, 
by  hostile  nations,  who  would  carry  their  vengeance 
into  the  defenceless  new  settlements,  was  a  dreadful 
expedient.  Without  betraying  his  informer  he  re- 
solved to  convince  himself.  The  men  were  ordered 
to  go  out  to  see  the  ball  played,  but  to  keep  under 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       101 

shelter  of  the  fort ;  and  if  they  saw  the  ball  driven 
in,  immediately  to  return  and  shut  the  gates.  I 
cannot  remember  the  exact  mode  in  which  this 
manoeuvre  was  managed,  but  the  consequence  I 
know  was,  first,  the  repulsing  of  the  Indians  from 
the  gate,  and  then  the  commencing  of  open  hostili- 
ties on  their  side,  while  the  garrison  was  for  some 
time  in  a  state  of  blockade. 

Meantime  the  Indians  had  concerted  another 
stratagem,  to  seize  a  vessel  loaded  with  stores,  which 
was  daily  expected  from  Niagara.  Commodore 
Grant,  a  younger  brother  of  the  Glenmoriston 
family  in  Inverness-shire,  was,  and  I  believe  still 
is,  commander  of  the  lakes  ;  an  office  which  has  now 
greatly  risen  in  importance.  At  that  time  his  own 
vessel  and  two  or  three  smaller  were  employed  .in 
that  navigation.  This  little  squadron  was  very  in- 
teresting on  a  double  account.  It  carried  stores, 
troops,  etc.,  which  could  not  otherwise  be  trans- 
ported, there  being  no  way  of  proceeding  by  land ; 
and  again  the  size  of  the  vessels  and  a  few  swivels 
or  small  cannon  they  carried  enabled  them  to  com- 
mand even  a  fleet  of  canoes,  should  the  Indians  be 
disposed  to  attack  them.  Of  this  there  was  at  the 
time  not  the  least  apprehension  ;  and  here  I  must 
stop  to  give  some  account  of  the  first  victim  to  this 
unlooked-for  attack. 

Sir  Robert  D *  was  the  representative  of 

1  An  account  of  the  surprise  and  death  of  Sir  Robert  Davers,  whose 
name  Mrs.  Grant  hesitates  to  divulge,  is  given  in  "  Munsell's  Historical 
Series,"  iv,  a,  3,  ia8. 


102  MEMOIRS    OF 

an  ancient  English  family,  of  which  he  was  orig- 
inally the  sixth  brother.  At  a  certain  time  of  life, 
somewhere  betwixt  twenty-five  and  thirty,  each  was, 
in  turn,  attacked  with  a  hypochondriac  disorder, 
which  finally  proved  fatal.  Sir  Robert,  in  turn, 
succeeded  to  the  estate  and  title,  and  to  the  dread- 
ful apprehension  of  being  visited  by  the  same  ca- 
lamity. This  was  the  more  to  be  regretted,  as  he 
was  a  person  of  very  good  abilities,  and  an  excellent 
disposition.  The  time  now  approached  when  he 
was  to  arrive  at  that  period  of  life  at  which  the  fatal 
malady  attacked  his  brothers.  He  felt,  or  imagined 
he  felt,  some  symptoms  of  the  approaching  gloom. 
What  should  he  do  ?  medicine  had  not  availed. 
Should  he  travel ;  alas !  his  brothers  had  travelled, 
but  the  blackest  despair  was  their  companion. 
Should  he  try  a  sea  voyage,  one  of  them  commanded 
a  ship,  and  fate  overtook  him  in  his  own  cabin.  It 
occurred  to  him  that,  by  living  among  a  people 
who  were  utter  strangers  to  this  most  dreadful  of 
all  visitations,  and  adopting  this  manner  of  life,  he 
might  escape  its  influence.  He  came  over  to  Amer- 
ica, where  his  younger  brother  served  in  a  regiment 
then  in  Canada.  He  felt  his  melancholy  daily  in- 
creasing, and  resolved  immediately  to  put  in  exe- 
cution his  plan  of  entirely  renouncing  the  European 
modes  of  life,  and  incorporating  himself  in  some 
Indian  tribe,  hoping  the  novelty  of  the  scene,  and 
the  hardships  to  which  it  would  necessarily  subject 
him,  might  give  an  entire  new  turn  to  his  spirits. 


AN    AMERICAN     LADY        103 

He  communicated  his  intention  to  Sir  William 
Johnson,  who  entirely  approved  of  it,  and  advised 
him  to  go  up  to  the  great  lake  among  the  Hurons, 
who  were  an  intelligent  and  sensible  race,  and  in- 
habited a  very  fine  country,  and  among  whom  he 
would  not  be  liable  to  meet  his  countrymen,  or  be 
tempted  back  to  the  mode  of  life  he  wished  for  a 
while  entirely  to  forsake.  This  was  no  flight  of 
caprice,  but  a  project  undertaken  in  the  most  delib- 
erate manner,  and  with  the  most  rational  views.  It 
completely  succeeded.  The  Hurons  were  not  a 
little  flattered  to  think  that  a  European  of  Sir 
Robert's  rank  was  going  to  live  with  them,  and  be 
their  brother.  He  did  not  fail  to  conciliate  them 
with  presents,  and  still  more  by  his  ready  adoption 
of  their  dress  and  manners.  The  steadiness  he 
showed  in  adhering  to  a  plan  where  he  had  not  only 
severe  hardships,  but  numberless  disgusts  to  en- 
counter, showed  him  possessed  of  invincible  pa- 
tience and  fortitude ;  while  his  letters  to  his  friends, 
with  whom  he  regularly  corresponded,  evinced  much 
good  sense  and  just  observation.  For  two  years  he 
led  this  life,  which  habit  made  easy,  and  the  enjoy- 
ment of  equal  spirits  agreeable.  Convinced  that  he 
had  attained  his  desired  end,  and  conquered  the 
hereditary  tendency  so  much  dreaded,  he  prepared 
to  return  to  society,  intending  if  his  despondency 
should  recur,  to  return  once  more  to  his  Indian 
habit,  and  rejoin  his  Huron  friends.  When  the 
intention  was  formed  by  Pontiac  and  his  associates 


io4  MEMOIRS    OF 

of  attacking  the  commodore's  vessel,  Sir  Robert, 
who  wished  now  to  be  conveyed  to  some  of  the 
forts,  discerned  the  British  ship  from  the  opposite 
shore  of  the  great  lake,  and  being  willing  to  avail 
himself  of  that  conveyance,  embarked  in  a  canoe 
with  some  of  his  own  Indian  friends,  to  go  on 
board  the  commodore.  Meanwhile  a  very  large 
canoe,  containing  as  many  of  Pontiac's  followers  as 
it  could  possibly  hold,  drew  near  the  king's  ship, 
and  made  a  pretext  of  coming  in  a  friendly  manner, 
while  two  or  three  others  filled  with  warriors,  hov- 
ered at  a  distance.  They  had  fallen  short  of  their 
usual  policy ;  for  they  were  painted  red,  and  had 
about  them  some  of  those  symbols  of  hostility, 
which  are  perfectly  understood  amongst  each  other. 
Some  friendly  Indians,  who  happened  to  be  by  ac- 
cident on  board  the  commodore's  vessel,  discerned 
these,  and  warned  him  of  the  approaching  danger. 
On  their  drawing  near  the  vessel  they  were  ordered 
to  keep  off.  Thinking  they  were  discovered,  and 
that  things  could  be  no  worse,  they  attempted  to 
spring  on  board  armed  with  their  tomahawks  and 
scalping-knives,  but  were  very  soon  repulsed.  The 
other  canoes,  seeing  all  was  discovered,  drew  near 
to  support  their  friends,  but  were  soon  repulsed  by 
a  discharge  of  the  six-pounders.  At  this  crisis,  the 
canoe,  containing  Sir  Robert,  began  to  advance  in 
another  direction.  The  Indians  who  accompanied 
him  had  not  been  apprised  of  the  proposed  attack ; 
but  being  Hurons,  the  commodore  never  doubted 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       105 

of  their  hostility.  Sir  Robert  sat  in  the  end  of  the 
canoe  dressed  in  all  the  costume  of  a  Huron,  and 
wrapped  up  in  his  blanket.  He  ordered  his  com- 
panions to  approach  the  ship  immediately,  not  de- 
terred by  their  calling  to  them  to  keep  off,  intending, 
directly,  to  make  himself  known ;  but  in  the  con- 
fusion he  was  accidently  shot. 

To  describe  the  universal  sorrow  diffused  over 
the  province  in  consequence  of  this  fatal  acci- 
dent would  be  impossible.  Nothing  since  the 
death  of  Lord  Howe  had  excited  such  general 
regret.  The  Indians  carried  the  body  to  Detroit, 
and  delivered  it  up  to  the  garrison  for  inter- 
ment. He  had  kept  a  journal  during  his  resi- 
dence on  the  lakes,  which  was  never  recovered, 
and  must  certainly  have  contained  (proceeding 
from  such  a  mind  so  circumstanced)  much  curi- 
ous matter.  Sir  Charles,  his  younger  brother, 
then  a  captain  in  the  iyth,  succeeded  him,  but 
had  no  visitation  of  the  depression  of  mind  so 
fatal  to  his  brothers. 

Rumors,  enlarged  by  distance,  soon  reached 
Albany  of  this  unlooked-for  attack  of  the  Indians. 
Indeed,  before  they  had  any  authentic  details,  they 
heard  of  it  in  the  most  alarming  manner  from  the 
terrified  back  settlers,  who  fled  from  their  incursions. 
Those  who  dwell  in  a  land  of  security,  where  only 
the  distant  rumor  of  war  can  reach  them,  would 
know  something  of  the  value  of  safety  could  they 
be  but  one  day  transported  to  a  region  where  this 


io6  MEMOIRS 

plague  is  let  loose ;  where  the  timorous  and  the 
helpless  are  made  to 

"  Die  many  times  before  their  death," 

by  restless  humor,  cruel  suspense,  and  anticipated 
misery.  Many  of  the  regiments  employed  in  the 
conquest  of  Canada  had  returned  home,  or  gone 
to  the  West  Indies.  Had  the  Canadians  had  spirit 
and  cohesion  to  rise  in  a  body  and  join  the  Indians, 
't  is  hard  to  say  what  might  have  been  the  conse- 
quence. Madame,  whose  cautions  were  neglected 
in  the  day  of  prosperity,  became  now  the  public 
oracle,  and  was  resorted  to  and  consulted  by  all. 
Formerly  she  blamed  their  false  security  and  neg- 
lect of  that  powerful  chief,  who,  having  been  accus- 
tomed to  flattery  and  gifts  from  all  sides,  was  all  at 
once  made  too  sensible  that  it  was  from  war  he 
derived  his  importance.  Now  she  equally  blamed 
the  universal  trepidation,  being  confident  in  our 
resources,  and  well  knowing  what  useful  allies  the 
Mohawks,  ever  hostile  to  the  Canadian  Indians, 
might  prove. 

Never  was  our  good  aunt  more  consulted  or 
more  respected.  Sir  Jeffrey  Amherst  planned  at 
Albany  an  expedition  to  be  commanded  by  General 
Bradstreet,  for  which  both  New  York  and  New 
England  raised  corps  of  provincials. 


Chapter  XV 


DEATH   OF   CAPTAIN   DALYELL  —  MADAME  — 
HER   PROTEGES 

MEANTIME  an  express  arrived  with  the 
afflicting  news  of  the  loss  of  a  captain  and 
twenty  men  of  the  55th  regiment.  The  name  of 
this  lamented  officer  was  Dalziel,1  of  the  Carnwath 
family.  Colonel  Beckwith  had  sent  for  a  reinforce- 
ment. This  Major  Duncan  hesitated  to  send,  till 
better  informed  as  to  the  mode  of  conveyance. 
Captain  Dalziel  volunteered  going.  I  cannot  ex- 
actly say  how  they  proceeded;  but,  after  having 
penetrated  through  the  woods  till  they  were  in 
sight  of  Detroit,  they  were  discovered  and  attacked 
by  a  party  of  Indians,  and  made  their  way  with 
the  utmost  difficulty,  after  the  loss  of  their  com- 
mander and  the  third  part  of  their  number. 

Major  Duncan's  comprehensive  mind  took  in 
everything  that  had  any  tendency  to  advance  the 

1  This  was  Captain  James  Dalyell,  of  the  zd  battalion  of  the  Royals, 
who  perished  in  a  brave  but  indiscreet  attack  on  the  Indians  soon  after 
his  arrival  at  Detroit,  August  31,  1763.  He  marched  out  with  247 
men,  intending  to  surprise  the  enemy  about  three  miles  from  the  fort, 
but  was  himself  surprised  and  killed.  See  IV  "Munsell's  Hist. 
Series,"  54,  56,  et  seq.  ;  also  a  biographical  sketch  '« Colonial  Hist. 
N.  Y.,"  vi,  547  j  "Parkman's  Pontiac,"  275. 


io8  MEMOIRS     OF 

general  good,  and  cement  old  alliances.  He  saw 
none  of  the  Hurons,  whose  territories  lay  far  above 
Ontario,  but  those  tribes  whose  course  of  hunting 
or  fishing  led  them  to  his  boundaries,  were  always 
kindly  treated.  He  often  made  them  presents  of 
ammunition  or  provision,  and  did  everything  in 
his  power  to  conciliate  them.  Upon  hearing  of  the 
outrage  which  the  Hurons1  had  been  guilty  of,  the 
heads  of  the  tribe,  with  whom  the  major  had  culti- 
vated the  greatest  intimacy,  came  to  assure  him  of 
their  good  wishes  and  hearty  co-operation.  He 
invited  them  to  come  with  their  tribe  to  celebrate 
the  birth-day  of  the  new  king  (his  present  majesty), 
which  occurred  a  few  days  after,  and  there  solemnly 
renew,  with  the  usual  ceremonies,  the  league  offen- 
sive and  defensive  made  between  their  fathers  and 
the  late  king.  They  came  accordingly  in  their  best 
arms  and  dresses,  and  assisted  at  a  review,  and  at 
a  kind  of  feast  given  on  the  occasion,  on  the  outside 
of  the  fort.  The  chief  and  his  brother,  who  were 
two  fine  noble  looking  men,  were  invited  in  to  dine 
with  the  major  and  officers.  When  they  arrived, 
and  were  seated,  the  major  called  for  a  glass  of 
wine  to  drink  his  sovereign's  health ;  this  was 
no  sooner  done,  than  the  sachem's  brother  fell  life- 
less on  the  floor.  They  thought  it  was  a  fainting 

1  The  author,  perhaps,  uses  the  term  Huron,  where  that  of  Algon- 
quin would  have  been  more  correct.  She  does  not  recollect  the  dis- 
tinctive terms  exactly,  but  applies  the  epithet,  in  general,  to  the  Indians 
who  then  occupied  the  banks  of  the  Huron  Lake,  and  the  adjacent 
country.  —  Mrs.  Grant. 


AN    AMERICAN     LADY        109 

fit,  and  made  use  of  the  usual  applications  to 
recover  him,  which  to  their  extreme  surprise  proved 
ineffectual.  His  brother  looked  steadily  on  while 
all  those  means  were  using ;  but  when  convinced 
of  their  inefficacy,  sat  down,  drew  his  mantle  over 
his  face,  sobbed  aloud,  and  burst  into  tears.  This 
was  an  additional  wonder.  Through  the  traces  of 
Indian  recollection  no  person  had  been  known  to 
fall  suddenly  dead  without  any  visible  cause,  nor  any 
warrior  to  shed  tears.  After  a  pause  of  deep  silence, 
which  no  one  felt  inclined  to  break,  the  sachem 
rose  with  a  collected  and  dignified  air,  and  thus 
addressed  the  witnesses  of  this  affecting  accident : 
"Generous  English,  misjudge  me  not;  though  you 
have  seen  me  for  once  a  child,  in  the  day  of  battle 
you  will  see  a  man,  who  will  make  the  Hurons 
weep  blood.  I  was  never  thus  before.  But  to 
me  my  brother  was  all.  Had  he  died  in  battle, 
no  look  of  mine  would  change.  His  nation  would 
honor  him,  but  his  foes  should  lament  him.  I  see 
sorrow  in  your  countenances  ;  and  I  know  you 
were  not  the  cause  of  my  brother's  death.  Why, 
indeed,  should  you  take  away  a  life  that  was  de- 
voted to  you  ?  Generous  English,  ye  mourn  for 
my  brother,  and  I  will  fight  your  battles."  This 
assurance  of  his  confidence  was  very  necessary  to 
quiet  the  minds  of  his  friends  ;  and  the  concern 
of  the  officers  was  much  aggravated  by  the  sus- 
picious circumstances  attending  his  death  so  imme- 
diately after  drinking  the  wine  they  had  given  him. 


no  MEMOIRS    OF 

The  major  ordered  this  lamented  warrior  to  be 
interred  with  great  ceremony.  A  solemn  proces- 
sion, mournful  music,  the  firing  of  cannon,  and 
all  other  military  honors,  evinced  his  sympathy  for 
the  living,  and  his  respect  for  the  dead ;  and  the 
result  of  this  sad  event,  in  the  end,  rather  tended 
to  strengthen  the  attachment  of  those  Indians  to 
the  British  cause. 

I  have  given  this  singular  occurrence  a  place  in 
these  memoirs,  as  it  serves  to  illustrate  the  calm 
good  sense  and  steady  confidence,  which  made  a 
part  of  the  Indian  character,  and  added  value  to 
their  friendship  when  once  it  was  fairly  attended. 

The  55th,  which  had  been  under  orders  to  return 
home,  felt  a  severe  disappointment  in  being,  for  two 
years  more,  confined  to  their  sylvan  fortresses. 
These,  however,  they  embellished,  and  rendered 
comfortable,  with  gardens  and  farm-grounds,  that, 
to  reside  in  them,  could  no  longer  be  accounted  a 
penance.  Yet,  during  the  Indian  war,  they  were, 
from  motives  of  necessary  caution,  confined  to  very 
narrow  limits  ;  which,  to  those  accustomed  to  pur- 
sue their  sports  with  all  that  wild  liberty  and  wide 
excursion  peculiar  to  savage  hunters,  was  a  hard- 
ship of  which  we  can  have  no  idea.  Restrained 
from  this  unbounded  license,  fishing  became  their 
next  favorite  pursuit,  to  which  the  lakes  and  rivers 
on  which  these  forts  were  built,  afforded  great 
facility.  Tempted  by  the  abundance  and  excellence 
of  the  productions  of  these  copious  waters,  they 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       m 

were  led  to  endanger  their  health  by  their  assiduity 
in  this  amusement.  Agues,  the  disease  of  all  new 
establishments,  became  frequent  among  them,  and 
were  aggravated  by  the  home-sickness.  To  this 
they  were  more  peculiarly  liable ;  as  the  regiment, 
just  newly  raised  before  they  embarked  for  America, 
had  quitted  the  bosom  of  their  families,  without 
passing  through  the  gradation  of  boarding-schools 
and  academies,  as  is  usual  in  other  countries. 

What  an  unspeakable  blessing  to  the  inhabitants 
were  the  parish  schools  of  the  north,  and  how  much 
humble  worth  and  laborious  diligence  has  been 
found  among  their  teachers.  In  those  lowly  sem- 
inaries boys  not  only  attained  the  rudiments  of 
learning,  but  the  principles  of  loyalty  and  genuine 
religion,  with  the  abatement  of  a  small  tincture  of 
idolatry  ;  of  which  their  household  gods  were  the 
only  objects.  Never  surely  was  a  mode  of  educa- 
tion so  calculated  to  cherish  attachment  to  those 
tutelar  deities.  Even  the  laird's  son  had  often  a 
mile  or  two  to  walk  to  his  day  school ;  a  neigh- 
boring tenant's  son  carried  the  basket  which  con- 
tained his  simple  dinner ;  and  still  as  they  went 
along  they  were  joined  by  other  fellow-travellers  in 
the  paths  of  learning.  How  cordial  were  those 
intimacies,  formed  in  the  early  period  of  life  and  of 
the  day,  while  nature  smiled  around  in  dewy  fresh- 
ness !  How  gladdening  to  the  kind  and  artless 
heart  were  these  early  walks  through  the  wild 
varieties  of  a  romantic  country,  and  among  the 


ii2  MEMOIRS    OF 

peaceful  cottages  of  simple  peasants,1  from  whence 
the  incense  of  praise,  "  in  sounds  by  distance  made 
more  sweet,"  rose  on  the  morning  breeze  !  How 
cheering  was  the  mid-day  sport,  amid  their  native 
burns  and  braes,  without  the  confinement  of  a 
formal  play-ground  !  How  delightful  the  evening 
walk  homeward,  animated  by  the  consciousness  of 
being  about  to  meet  all  that  was  dearest  to  the  art- 
less and  affectionate  mind  !  Thus  the  constitution 
was  improved  with  the  understanding ;  and  they 
carried  abroad  into  active  life,  the  rigid  fibre  of  the 
robust  and  hardy  frame,  and  the  warm  and  fond 
affections  of  the  heart,  uncorrupted  and  true  to  its 
first  attachments.  Never  sure  were  youth's  first 
glowing  feeling  more  alive  than  in  the  minds  of 
those  young  soldiers.  From  school  they  were 
hurried  into  the  greatest  fatigues  and  hardships,  and 
the  horrors  of  the  most  sanguinary  war ;  and  from 
thence  transported  to  the  depth  of  those  central 
forests,  where  they  formed  to  themselves  a  little 
world,  whose  greatest  charm  was  the  cherished 
recollection  of  the  simple  and  endeared  scenes  of 
their  childhood,  and  of  the  beloved  relations  whom 
they  had  left  behind,  and  to  whom  they  languished 
to  return.  They  had  not  gone  through  the  ordeal 

1  The  Scottish  peasants,  when  they  return  to  breakfast  from  their 
early  labors,  always  read  a  portion  of  Scripture,  sing  some  part  of  a 
psalm,  and  pray.  This  practice  is  too  general,  either  to  diminish 
cheerfulness,  or  convey  the  idea  of  superior  sanctity ;  while  the  effect 
of  vocal  music,  rising  at  once  from  so  many  separate  dwellings,  is  very 
impressive.  —  Mrs.  Grant. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       113 

of  the  world,  and  could  not  cheer  their  exile  by 
retracing  its  ways,  its  fashions,  or  its  amusements. 
It  is  this  domestic  education,  that  unbroken  series 
of  home  joys  and  tender  remembrances,  that  render 
the  natives  of  the  north  so  faithful  to  their  filial 
and  fraternal  duties,  and  so  attached  to  a  bleak  and 
rugged  region,  excelled  in  genial  warmth  of  climate, 
and  fertility  of  soil,  in  every  country  to  which  the 
spirit  of  adventure  leads  them. 

I  was  now  restored  to  my  niche  at  Aunt  Schuy- 
ler's  and  not  a  little  delighted  with  the  importance 
which,  in  this  eventful  crisis,  seemed  to  attach  to 
her  opinions.  The  times  were  too  agitated  to  ad- 
mit of  her  paying  much  attention  to  me  :  but  I, 
who  took  the  deepest  interest  in  what  was  going 
on,  and  heard  of  nothing,  abroad  or  at  home,  but 
Indians,  and  sieges,  and  campaigns,  was  doubly 
awake  to  all  the  conversation  I  heard  at  home. 

The  expedition  proceeded  under  General  Brad- 
street,  while  my  father,  recommended  to  his  attention 
by  Madame,  held  some  temporary  employment  about 
mustering  the  troops.  My  friend  had  now  the  satisfac- 
tion of  seeing  her  plans  succeed  in  different  instances. 

Philip,  since  known  by  the  title  of  General 
Schuyler,  whom  I  have  repeatedly  mentioned,  had 
now,  in  pursuance  of  the  mode  she  pointed  out  to 
him,  attained  to  wealth  and  power ;  both  which 
were  rapidly  increasing.  His  brother  Cortlandt1 

1  These  were  the  sons  of  Johannes  Schuyler,  Jr.,  and  Cornelia  Van 
Cortlandt,  and  the  nephews  of  Madame  Schuyler.  General  Philip, 

VOL.   II.  —  8 


n4  MEMOIRS    OF 

(the  handsome  savage)  who  had,  by  her  advice,  gone 
into  the  army,  was  returned  from  Ireland,  the  com- 
mander of  a  company  ; l  and  married  to  a  very 
pleasing  and  estimable  woman,  whose  perpetual 
vivacity  and  good  humor  threw  a  ray  of  light  over 
the  habitual  reserve  of  her  husband;  who  was 
amiable  in  domestic  life,  though  cold  and  distant  in 
his  manner.  They  settled  near  the  general,  and 
paid  a  degree  of  attention  to  Madame  that  showed 
the  filial  tie  remained  in  full  force. 

The  colonel,  as  he  was  then  called,  had  built 
a  house  near  Albany,2  in  the  English  taste,  com- 
paratively magnificent,  where  his  family  resided, 
and  where  he  carried  on  the  business  of  his  depart- 
ment. Thirty  miles  or  more  above  Albany,  in 
the  direction  of  the  Flats,  and  near  the  far-famed 
Saratoga,  which  was  to  be  the  scene  of  his  future 
triumph,  he  had  another  establishment.3  It  was 
here  that  the  colonel's  political  and  economical 
genius  had  full  scope.  He  had  always  the  corn- 
born  1733,  died  18  November,  1804,  aged  71,  distinguished  by  his 
revolutionary  services,  which  have  been  made  the  subject  of  two  vol- 
umes by  Benson  J.  Lossing. 

1  She  was  an  Irish  lady  whose  first  name  was  Barbara.      After  the 
death  of  her  husband  and  eldest  son,  she  returned  to  Ireland  with  her 
younger  children  ;  and  it  is  said,  that  some  of  her  descendants  bearing 
the  name  of  Schuyler  are  yet  (1901)  living  in  the  Emerald  Isle. 

2  This  house,  still  standing  at  the  head  of  Schuyler  Street,  is  said 
to  have  been  built  by  General  Bradstreet. 

8  The  place  is  now  known  as  Schuylerville.  The  land  had  been 
in  the  family  nearly  a  century,  when  Burgoyne  occupied  the  house, 
built  on  the  site  of  the  one  burned  by  the  French  in  1745,  f°r  his 
headquarters  both  on  his  advance  and  retreat. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       115 

mand  of  a  great  number  of  those  workmen  who 
were  employed  in  public  buildings,  etc.  Those 
were  always  in  constant  pay  ;  it  being  necessary 
to  engage  them  in  that  manner,  and  were,  from 
the  change  of  seasons,  the  shutting  of  the  ice, 
and  other  circumstances,  months  unemployed.  All 
these  seasons,  when  public  business  was  interrupted, 
the  workmen  were  employed  in  constructing  squares 
of  buildings  in  the  nature  of  barracks,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  lodging  artisans  and  laborers  of  all  kinds. 
Having  previously  obtained  a  large  tract  of  very 
fertile  lands  from  the  crown,  on  which  he  built 
a  spacious  and  convenient  house  ;  he  constructed 
those  barracks  at  a  distance,  not  only  as  a  nursery 
for  the  arts  which  he  meant  to  encourage,  but  as 
the  materials  of  a  future  colony,  which  he  meant 
to  plant  out  around  him.  He  had  here  a  number 
of  negroes  well  acquainted  with  felling  of  trees  and 
managing  saw-mills ;  of  which  he  erected  several. 
And  while  these  were  employed  in  carrying  on 
a  very  advantageous  trade  of  deals  and  lumber, 
which  were  floated  down  on  rafts  to  New  York, 
they  were  at  the  same  time  clearing  the  ground  for 
the  colony  the  colonel  was  preparing  to  establish. 

This  new  establishment  was  an  asylum  for  every 
one  who  wanted  bread  and  a  home:  from  the 
variety  of  employments  regularly  distributed,  every 
artisan  and  laborer  found  here  lodging  and  occu- 
pation:  some  hundreds  of  people,  indeed,  were 
employed  at  once.  Those  who  were  in  winter 


n6  MEMOIRS 

engaged  at  the  saw-mills,  were  in  summer  equally 
busied  at  a  large  and  productive  fishery.  The  arti- 
sans got  lodging  and  firing  for  two  or  three  years, 
at  first,  besides  being  well  paid  for  everything  they 
did.  Flax  was  raised,  and  dressed,  and  finally  spun 
and  made  into  linen  there  ;  and  as  artisans  were 
very  scarce  in  the  country,  every  one  sent  linen 
to  weave,  flax  to  dress,  etc.,  to  the  colonel's  colony. 
He  paid  them  liberally ;  and  having  always  abun- 
dance of  money  in  his  hands,  could  afford  to  be 
the  loser  at  first,  to  be  amply  repaid  in  the  end. 
It  is  inconceivable  what  dexterity,  address,  and 
deep  policy  were  exhibited  in  the  management  of 
this  new  settlement;  the  growth  of  which  was 
repaid  beyond  belief.  Every  mechanic  ended  in 
being  a  farmer,  that  is  a  profitable  tenant  to  the 
owner  of  the  soil  ;  and  new  recruits  of  artisans 
from  the  north  of  Ireland  chiefly  supplied  their 
place,  nourished  with  the  golden  dews  which  this 
sagacious  projector  could  so  easily  command.  The 
rapid  increase  and  advantageous  result  of  this  es- 
tablishment were  astonishing.  'T  is  impossible  for 
my  imperfect  recollection  to  do  justice  to  the  capac- 
ity displayed  in  these  regulations.  But  I  have  thus 
endeavored  to  trace  to  its  original  source  that  wealth 
and  power  which  became,  afterwards,  the  means  of 
supporting  an  aggression  so  formidable. 


Chapter  XVI 


MADAME'S   POPULARITY— EXCHANGE   OF 
PRISONERS 

IN  the  front  of  Madame's  house  was  a  portico, 
towards  the  street.  To  this  she  was  supported, 
in  fine  evenings,  when  the  whole  town  were  enjoy- 
ing themselves  on  their  respective  seats  of  one  kind 
or  other.  To  hers  there  were  a  few  steps  of  ascent, 
on  which  we  used  humbly  to  seat  ourselves ;  while 
a  succession  of  "  the  elders  of  that  city  "  paid  their 
respects  to  Madame,  and  conversed  with  her  by 
turns.  Never  was  levee  better  attended.  "Aunt 
Schuyler  is  come  out,"  was  a  talismanic  sentence 
that  produced  pleasure  in  every  countenance,  and 
set  every  one  in  motion  who  hoped  to  be  well  re- 
ceived :  for,  as  I  have  formerly  observed,  aunt 
knew  the  value  of  time  much  too  well  to  devote  it 
to  every  one.  We  lived  all  this  time  next  door  to 
her,  and  were  often  of  these  evening  parties. 

The  Indian  war  was  now  drawing  to  a  close,  after 
occasioning  great  disquiet,  boundless  expense,  and 
some  bloodshed.  Even  when  we  had  the  advantage 
which  our  tactics  and  artillery  in  some  instances 
gave,  it  was  a  warfare  of  the  most  precarious  and 


n8  MEMOIRS     OF 

perplexing  kind.  It  was  something  like  hunting  in 
a  forest  at  best ;  could  you  but  have  supposed  the 
animals  you  pursued  armed  with  missile  weapons, 
and  ever  ready  to  start  out  of  some  unlocked  for 
place.  Our  faithful  Indian  confederates,  as  far  as  I 
can  recollect,  were  more  useful  to  us  on  this  occasion 
than  all  the  dear  bought  apparatus,  which  we  col- 
lected for  the  purpose  of  destroying  an  enemy  too 
wise  and  too  swift  to  permit  us  to  come  in  sight  of 
them ;  or,  if  determined  to  attack  us,  sufficiently 
dextrous  to  make  us  feel  before  we  saw  them.  We 
said,  however,  that  we  conquered  Pontiac,  at  which 
no  doubt  he  smiled;  for  the  truth  of  the  matter 
was,  the  conduct  of  this  war  resembled  a  protracted 
game  of  chess.  He  was  as  little  able  to  take  our 
forts,  without  cannon,  as  we  were  able  without  the 
feet,  the  eyes,  and  the  instinctive  sagacity  of  Indians, 
to  trace  them  to  their  retreats.  After  delighting 
ourselves  for  a  long  while  with  the  manner  in  which 
we  were  to  punish  Pontiac's  presumption,  "  could  we 
but  once  catch  him"  all  ended  in  our  making  a  treaty, 
very  honorable  for  him,  and  not  very  disadvanta- 
geous to  ourselves.  We  gave  both  presents  and 
promises,  and  Pontiac  gave  —  permission  to  the 
mothers  of  those  children  who  had  been  taken  away 
from  the  frontier  settlements  to  receive  them  back 
again,  on  condition  of  delivering  up  the  Indian 
prisoners. 

The  joyful  day  when  the  congress  was  held  for 
concluding   peace    I    never  shall   forget.     Another 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         119 

memorable  day  is  engraven  in  indelible  characters 
upon  my  memory.  Madame,  being  deeply  inter- 
ested in  the  projected  exchange,  brought  about  a 
scheme  for  having  it  take  place  at  Albany,  which 
was  more  central  than  any  other  place,  and  where 
her  influence  among  the  Mohawks  could  be  of  use  in 
getting  intelligence  about  the  children,  and  sending 
messages  to  those  who  had  adopted  them,  and  who, 
by  this  time,  were  very  unwilling  to  part  with  them. 
In  the  first  place  because  they  were  growing  very 
fond  of  them  ;  and  again,  because  they  thought  the 
children  would  not  be  so  happy  in  our  manner  of 
life,  which  appeared  to  them  both  constrained  and 
effeminate.  This  exchange  had  a  large  retrospect. 
For  ten  years  back  there  had  been,  every  now  and 
then,  while  these  Indians  were  in  the  French  interest, 
ravages  upon  the  frontiers  of  the  different  provinces. 
In  many  instances  these  children  had  been  snatched 
away  while  their  parents  were  working  in  the  fields, 
or  after  they  were  killed.  A  certain  day  was  ap- 
pointed, on  which  all  who  had  lost  their  children, 
or  sought  those  of  their  relations,  were  to  come  to 
Albany  in  search  of  them  ;  where,  on  that  day,  all 
Indians  possessed  of  white  children  were  to  present 
them.  Poor  women,  who  had  travelled  some  hun- 
dred miles  from  the  back  settlements  of  Pennsyl- 
vania and  New  England,  appeared  here,  with  anxious 
looks  and  aching  hearts,  not  knowing  whether  their 
children  were  alive,  or  how  exactly  to  identify  them 
if  they  should  meet  them.  I  observed  these  appre- 


120  MEMOIRS    OF 

hensive  and  tender  mothers  were,  though  poor 
people,  all  dressed  with  peculiar  neatness  and  atten- 
tion, each  wishing  the  first  impression  her  child 
should  receive  of  her  might  be  a  favorable  one. 
On  a  gentle  slope  near  the  fort,  stood  a  row  of 
temporary  huts,  built  by  retainers  to  the  troops; 
the  green  before  these  buildings  was  the  scene  of 
these  pathetic  recognitions ;  which  I  did  not  fail  to 
attend.  The  joy  of  even  the  happy  mothers  was 
overpowering,  and  found  vent  in  tears  ;  but  not  like 
the  bitter  tears  of  those  who,  after  long  travel,  found 
not  what  they  sought.  It  was  affecting  to  see  the 
deep  and  silent  sorrow  of  the  Indian  women,  and 
of  the  children,  who  knew  no  other  mother,  and 
clung  fondly  to  their  bosoms,  from  whence  they  were 
not  torn  without  the  most  piercing  shrieks ;  while 
their  own  fond  mothers  were  distressed  beyond 
measure  at  the  shyness  and  aversion  with  which 
these  long  lost  objects  of  their  love  received  their 
caresses.  I  shall  never  forget  the  grotesque  figures 
and  wild  looks  of  these  young  savages ;  nor  the 
trembling  haste  with  which  their  mothers  arrayed 
them  in  the  new  clothes  they  had  brought  for  them, 
as  hoping  that,  with  the  Indian  dress,  they  would 
throw  off  their  habits  and  attachments.  It  was  in 
short  a  scene  impossible  to  describe,  but  most  affect- 
ing to  behold.  Never  was  my  good  friend's  con- 
siderate liberality  and  useful  sympathy  more  fully 
exerted  than  on  this  occasion,  which  brought  so 
many  poor  travellers  from  their  distant  homes  on 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        121 

this  pilgrimage  to  the  shrine  of  nature.  How  many 
traders  did  she  persuade  to  take  them  gratis  in  their 
boats  !  How  many  did  she  feed  and  lodge !  and 
in  what  various  ways  did  she  serve  or  make  others 
serve  them  all.  No  one  indeed  knew  how  to  refuse 
a  request  of  Aunt  Schuyler,  who  never  made  one  for 
herself. 


Chapter  XVII 

RETURN   OF  THE    55TH   REGIMENT   TO    EUROPE 
—  PRIVATES   SENT  TO   PENSACOLA 

THE  55th  now  left  their  calm  abodes  amidst 
their  lakes  and  forests,  with  the  joy  of  chil- 
dren breaking  up  from  their  school ;  little  aware  that 
they  were  bidding  adieu  to  quiet,  plenty  and  free- 
dom, and  utter  strangers  to  the  world,  into  which 
they  were  about  to  plunge.  They  all  came  down 
to  Albany.  Captain  Mungo  Campbell  was  charmed 
to  find  me  so  familiar  with  his  Milton ;  while  I  was 
equally  charmed  to  find  him  a  favorite  with  Aunt 
Schuyler,  which  was  with  me  the  criterion  of  merit. 
Colonel  Duncan,  for  such  he  was  now,  marched 
proudly  at  the  head  of  his  pupils,  whom  he  had 
carried  up  raw  youths,  but  brought  back  with  all 
the  manly  and  soldierly  openness  of  manner  and 
character  that  could  be  wished,  and  with  minds 
greatly  improved.  Meanwhile  Madame's  counsels 
had  so  much  influence  on  my  father,  that  he  began 
seriously  to  think  of  settling  in  America.  To  part 
with  his  beloved  55th  was  very  trying;  yet  his  pros- 
pects of  advantage  in  remaining  among  a  people  by 
whom  he  was  esteemed,  and  to  whom  he  had  really 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         123 

become  attached,  were  very  flattering ;  for  by  the 
aid  of  aunt  and  the  old  inhabitants,  and  friendly 
Indians,  who  were  at  her  powerful  bidding,  he  could 
expect  to  get  advantageously  some  lands  which 
he,  in  common  with  other  officers  who  served  in 
America,  was  entitled  to.  He,  having  a  right  to 
apply  for  the  allotted  quantity  wherever  he  found  it 
vacant,  that  is,  in  odd  unoccupied  places,  between 
different  patents,  which  it  required  much  local  knowl- 
edge of  the  country  to  discover,  had  greatly  the 
advantage  of  strangers ;  because  he  could  get  in- 
formation of  those  secluded  spots  here  and  there 
that  were  truly  valuable ;  whereas  other  officers  be- 
longing to  regiments  disbanded  in  the  country,  either 
did  not  find  it  convenient  to  go  to  the  expense  of 
taking  out  a  patent  and  surveying  the  lands,  and  so 
sold  their  rights  for  a  trifle  to  others ;  or  else  half  a 
dozen  went  together,  and  made  a  choice,  generally 
an  injudicious  one,  of  some  large  tract  of  ground, 
which  would  not  have  been  so  long  unsolicited  had 
it  been  of  real  value.  My  father  bought  the  rights 
of  two  young  officers  who  were  in  a  hurry  to  go  to 
Europe,  and  had  not  perhaps  wherewithal  to  go 
through  the  necessary  forms  used  to  appropriate  a 
particular  spot,  the  expense  of  that  process  being  con- 
siderable. Accordingly  he  became  a  consequential 
landholder,  and  had  his  half-pay  to  boot. 

The  55th  were  now  preparing  to  embark  for  that 
home  which  they  regarded  with  enthusiasm;  this 
extended  to  the  lowest  ranks,  who  were  absolutely 


i24  MEMOIRS    OF 

home-sick.  They  had,  too,  from  the  highest  to 
the  lowest,  been  enabled,  from  their  unexpensive 
mode  of  living,  to  lay  up  some  money.  Never  was 
there  a  body  of  men  more  uncorrupted  and  more 
attached  to  each  other.  Military  men  contract  a 
love  of  variety  in  their  wandering  manner  of  life, 
and  always  imagine  they  are  to  find  some  enjoyment 
in  the  next  quarters  that  they  have  not  had  in  this ; 
so  that  the  order  for  march  is  generally  a  joyful 
summons  to  the  younger  officers  at  least.  To  these 
novices,  who,  when  they  thought  the  world  of  va- 
riety, glory,  and  perferment  was  open  before  them, 
were  ordered  up  into  the  depth  of  unexplored 
forests,  to  be  kept  stationary  for  years  without 
even  the  amusement  of  a  battle,  it  was  sufficiently 
disappointing.  Yet  afterwards  I  have  been  told 
that,  in  all  the  changes  to  which  this  hapless  regi- 
ment was  subjected,  they  looked  back  on  the  years 
spent  on  the  lakes  as  the  happiest  of  their  lives. 

My  father  parted  with  them  with  extreme  regret, 
but  he  had  passed  the  Rubicon  ;  that  is  to  say,  taken 
out  his  patent,  and  stay  he  must.  He  went  how- 
ever to  New  York  with  them,  and  here  a  very  un- 
expected scene  opened.  Many  of  the  soldiers  who 
had  saved  little  sums  had  deposited  them  in  my 
father's  hands,  and,  when  he  gave  every  one  his 
own  at  New  York,  he  had  great  pleasure  in  seeing 
their  exultation,  and  the  purchases  they  were  mak- 
ing. When,  all  of  a  sudden,  a  thunderbolt  burst 
among  these  poor  fellows,  in  the  shape  of  an  order 


AN    AMERICAN     LADY        125 

to  draft  the  greatest  part  of  them  to  Pensacola  :  to 
renew  regiments  who,  placed  on  a  bar  of  burning 
sand,  with  a  salt  marsh  before  and  a  swamp  behind 
were  lingering  out  a  wretched  and  precarious  exist- 
ence, daily  cut  short  by  disease  in  some  new  in- 
stance. Words  are  very  inadequate  to  give  an  idea 
of  the  horror  that  pervaded  this  band  of  veterans. 
When  this  order  was  most  unexpectedly  read  at  the 
head  of  the  regiment,  it  was  worse  to  the  most  of 
them  than  a  sentence  of  immediate  death ;  they  were 
going  to  a  dismal  and  detested  quarter,  and  they 
were  going  to  become  part  of  a  regiment  of  no 
repute ;  whom  they  themselves  had  held  in  the 
utmost  contempt  when  they  had  formerly  served 
together.  The  officers  were  not  a  little  affected  by 
this  cruel  order,  to  part  with  the  brave  well  dis- 
ciplined men ;  who,  by  their  singular  good  conduct, 
and  by  the  habits  of  sharing  with  their  officers  in 
the  chase,  and  in  their  agricultural  amusements, 
fishing-parties,  etc.,  had  acquired  a  kindly  nearness 
to  them  not  usually  subsisting  between  those  who 
command  and  they  who  must  implicitly  obey. 
What  ties  were  broken !  what  hopes  were  blasted 
by  this  fatal  order  !  These  sad  exiles  embarked  for 
Pensacola  at  the  same  time  that  their  comrades  set 
out  for  Ireland.  My  father  returned,  sunk  in  the 
deepest  sadness,  which  was  increased  by  our  place 
of  abode ;  for  we  had  removed  to  the  forsaken  fort, 
where  there  was  no  creature  but  ourselves  and  three 
or  four  soldiers  who  chose  to  stay  in  the  country, 


126  MEMOIRS    OF 

and   for  whom  my  father  had  procured  their  dis- 
charge. 

I  was  in  the  meantime  more  intimate  than  ever 
at  Aunt  Schuyler's  ;  attracted  not  only  by  her  kind- 
ness, but  my  admiration  for  Mrs.  Cuyler,  and  at- 
tachment for  her  lovely  little  girl.  The  husband 
of  the  former  was  now  returned  from  his  West 
India  voyage,  and  they  retired  to  a  house  of  their 
own,  meaning  to  succeed  to  that  business  which  the 
mayor,  now  wealthy  and  infirm,  was  quitting. 
Cortlandt  Schuyler,  the  general's  brother,  and  his 
sprightly  agreeable  wife,  were  now,  as  well  as  the 
couple  formerly  mentioned,  frequent  visitors  at 
aunt's,  and  made  a  very  pleasing  addition  to  her 
familiar  circle.  I  began  to  be  considered  as  almost 
a  child  of  the  family,  and  Madame  took  much  pains 
in  instructing  me,  hoping  that  I  would  continue 
attached  to  her,  and  knowing  that  my  parents 
were  much  flattered  by  her  kindness,  and  fully  con- 
scious of  the  advantages  I  derived  from  it.  With 
her  aid  my  father's  plan  of  proceeding  was  fully 
digested.  He  was  to  survey  and  locate  his  lands 
(that  was  the  phrase  used  for  such  transactions), 
and  at  leisure  (as  the  price  of  lands  was  daily  rising), 
to  let  them  out  on  lease.  He  was  to  reserve  a  good 
farm  for  himself,  but  not  to  reside  upon  it  till  the 
lands  around  it  were  cultivated ;  and  so  many  set- 
tlers gone  up  as  would  make  the  district  in  a  degree 
civilized  and  populous  ;  a  change  which  was  like  to 
take  place  very  rapidly,  as  there  were  daily  emigra- 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         127 

tions  to  that  neighborhood,  which  was  become  a 
favorite  rallying  point,  on  account  of  a  flourishing 
and  singularly  well  conducted  settlement  %  which  I 
have  already  mentioned,  under  the  auspices  of 
Colonel  Schuyler  in  this  quarter. 


Chapter  XVIII 

PROPERTY   AT    CLARENDON  —  VISIONARY   PLANS 

MY  father  went  up  in  summer  with  a  retinue 
of  Indians,  and  disbanded  soldiers,  etc., 
headed  by  a  land-surveyor.  In  that  country,  men 
of  this  description  formed  an  important  and  distinct 
profession.  They  were  provided  with  an  apparatus 
of  measuring-chains,  tents,  and  provisions.  It  was 
upon  the  whole  an  expensive  expedition ;  but  this 
was  the  less  to  be  regretted  as  the  object  proved 
fully  adequate.  Never  was  a  location  more  fertile 
or  more  valuable,  nor  the  possessor  of  an  estate 
more  elated  with  his  acquisition  :  a  beautiful  stream 
passed  through  the  midst  of  the  property ;  beyond 
its  limits  on  one  side  rose  a  lofty  eminence  covered 
with  tall  cedar,  which  being  included  in  no  patent, 
would  be  a  common  good,  and  offered  an  inexhaust- 
ible supply  of  timber  and  firing  after  the  lands  should 
be  entirely  cleared.  This  sylvan  scene  appeared, 
even  in  its  wild  state,  to  possess  singular  advan- 
tages :  it  was  dry  lying  land  without  the  least  par- 
ticle of  swamp,  great  part  of  it  was  covered  with 
chestnuts,  the  sure  indication  of  good  wheat-land, 
and  the  rest  with  white  oak,  the  never-failing  fore- 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        129 

runner  of  good  Indian  corn  and  pasture.  The 
ground,  at  the  time  of  the  survey,  was  in  a  great 
measure  covered  with  strawberries,  the  sure  sign  of 
fertility.  And  better  and  better  still,  there  was,  on 
a  considerable  stream  which  watered  this  region  of 
benediction,  a  beaver-dam,  that  was  visibly  of  at 
least  fifty  years  standing.  What  particular  addition 
our  overflowing  felicity  was  to  derive  from  the 
neighborhood  of  these  sagacious  buildings,  may 
not  be  easily  conjectured.  It  was  not  their  society, 
for  they  were  much  too  wise  to  remain  in  our  vicin- 
ity, nor  yet  their  example,  which,  though  a  very 
good  one,  we  were  scarce  wise  enough  to  follow. 
Why  then  did  we  so  much  rejoice  over  the  dwell- 
ing of  these  old  settlers  ?  Merely  because  their 
industry  had  saved  us  much  trouble:  for,  in  the 
course  of  their  labors,  they  had  cleared  above  thirty 
acres  of  excellent  hay-land  ;  work  which  we  should 
take  a  long  time  to  execute,  and  not  perform  near 
so  well ;  the  truth  was,  this  industrious  colony,  by 
whose  previous  labor  we  were  thus  to  profit,  were 
already  extirpated,  to  my  unspeakable  sorrow,  who 
had  been  creating  a  beaver  Utopia  ever  since  I 
heard  of  the  circumstance.  The  protection  I  was 
to  afford  them,  the  acquaintance  I  was  to  make  with 
them,  after  conquering  the  first  shyness,  and  the 
delight  I  was  to  have  in  seeing  them  work,  after 
convincing  them  of  their  safety,  occupied  my  whole 
attention,  and  helped  to  console  me  for  the  drafting 
of  the  55th,  which  I  had  been  ever  since  lamenting. 

VOL.  II. — 9 


130  MEMOIRS    OF 

How  buoyant  is  the  fancy  of  childhood  !  I  was 
mortified  to  the  utmost  to  hear  there  were  no 
beavers  remaining;  yet  the  charming,  though 
simple,  description  my  father  gave  us  of  this  "  vale 
of  bliss,"  which  the  beavers  had  partly  cleared,  and 
the  whole  Township  of  Clarendon  (so  was  the  new 
laid  out  territory  called),  consoled  me  for  all  past 
disappointments.  It  is  to  be  observed  that  the 
political  and  economical  regulations  of  the  beavers 
make  their  neighborhood  very  desirable  to  new 
settlers.  They  build  houses  and  dams  with  un- 
wearied industry,  as  every  one  that  has  heard  of 
them  must  needs  know ;  but  their  unconquerable 
attachment  to  a  particular  spot  is  not  so  well  known  ; 
the  consequence  is,  that  they  work  more,  and  of 
course  clear  more  land  in  some  situations  than  in 
others.  When  they  happen  to  pitch  upon  a  stream 
that  overflows  often  in  spring,  it  is  apt  to  carry 
away  the  dam,  formed  of  large  trees  laid  across  the 
stream,  which  it  has  cost  them  unspeakable  pains 
to  cut  down  and  bring  there.  Whenever  these  are 
destroyed  they  cut  down  more  trees  and  construct 
another ;  and,  as  they  live  all  winter  on  the  tender 
twigs  from  the  underwood  and  bark  which  they 
strip  from  poplar  and  alder,  they  soon  clear  these 
also  from  the  vicinity.  In  the  day-time  they  either 
mend  their  houses,  lay  up  stores  in  them,  or  fish, 
sitting  upon  their  dams  made  for  that  purpose. 
The  night  they  employ  in  cutting  down  trees, 
which  they  always  do  so  as  to  make  them  fall 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY          131 

towards  the  stream,  or  in  dragging  them  to  the 
dam.  Meanwhile  they  have  always  sentinels  placed 
near  to  give  the  alarm,  in  case  of  any  intrusion.  It  is 
hard  to  say  when  these  indefatigable  animals  refresh 
themselves  with  sleep.  I  have  seen  those  that  have 
been  taken  young  and  made  very  tame,  so  that  they 
followed  their  owner  about ;  even  in  these  the  in- 
stinct which  prompts  their  nocturnal  labors  was 
apparent.  Whenever  all  was  quiet  they  began  to 
work.  Being  discontented  and  restless,  if  confined, 
it  was  usual  to  leave  them  in  the  yard.  They 
seemed  in  their  civilized,  or  rather  degraded  state, 
to  retain  an  idea  that  it  was  necessary  to  convey 
materials  for  building  to  their  wonted  habitation. 
The  consequence  was,  that  a  single  one  would  carry 
such  quantities  of  wood  to  the  back  door,  that  you 
would  find  your  way  blocked  up  in  the  morning  to 
a  degree  almost  incredible. 

Being  very  much  inclined  to  be  happy,  and 
abundant  in  resources,  the  simple  felicity  which  was 
at  some  future  period  to  prevail  among  the  amiable 
and  innocent  tenants  we  were  to  have  at  Clarendon, 
filled  my  whole  mind.  Before  this  flattering  vision, 
all  painful  recollections,  and  even  all  the  violent 
love  which  I  had  persuaded  myself  to  feel  for  my 
native  Britain,  entirely  vanished. 

The  only  thing  that  disturbed  me,  was  Aunt 
Schuyler's  age,  and  the  thoughts  of  outliving  her, 
which  sometimes  obtruded  among  my  day  dreams 
of  more  than  mortal  happiness.  I  thought  all  this 


ij2  MEMOIRS    OF 

could  scarce  admit  of  addition  ;  yet  a  new  source 
of  joy  was  opened,  when  I  found  that  we  were 
actually  going  to  live  at  the  Flats.  The  spot,  ren- 
dered sacred  by  the  residence  of  aunt,  where  I 
should  trace  her  steps  wherever  I  moved,  dwell 
under  the  shadow  of  her  trees,  and,  in  short,  find 
her  in  everything  I  saw.  We  did  not  aspire  to 
serious  farming,  reserving  that  effort  for  our  own 
estate,  of  which  we  talked  very  magnificently,  and 
indeed  had  some  reason,  it  being  as  valuable  as  so 
much  land  could  be ;  and  from  its  situation  in 
a  part  of  the  country  which  was  hourly  acquiring 
fresh  inhabitants,  its  value  daily  increased,  which 
consideration  induced  my  father  to  refuse  several 
offers  for  it;  resolved  either  to  people  it  with 
highland  emigrants,  or  retain  it  in  his  own  hands 
till  he  should  get  his  price. 

Sir  Henry  Moore,  the  last  British  governor  of 
New  York  that  I  remember,  came  up  this  summer 
to  see  Albany,  and  the  ornament  of  Albany  — 
Aunt  Schuyler;  he  brought  Lady  Moore  and  his 
daughter  with  him.  They  resided  for  some  time 
at  General  Schuyler's,  I  call  him  so  by  anticipa- 
tion ;  for  sure  I  am,  had  any  gifted  seer  foretold 
then  what  was  to  happen,  he  would  have  been 
ready  to  answer,  "  Is  thy  servant  a  dog,  that  he 
should  do  this  thing."  Sir  Harry,  like  many  of 
his  predecessors,  was  a  mere  show  governor,  and 
old  Cadwallader  Golden,  the  lieutenant  governor, 
continued  to  do  the  business,  and  enjoy  the  power 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         133 

in  its  most  essential  branches,  such  as  giving  patents 
for  lands,  etc.  Sir  Harry,  in  the  meantime,  had 
never  thought  of  business  in  his  life ;  he  was  honor- 
able as  far  as  a  man  could  be  so,  who  always  spent 
more  than  he  had;  he  was,  however,  gay,  good 
natured,  and  well  bred,  affable  and  courteous  in 
a  very  high  degree,  and  if  the  business  of  a  gov- 
ernor was  merely  to  keep  the  governed  in  good 
humor,  no  one  was  fitter  for  that  office  than  he, 
the  more  so,  as  he  had  sense  enough  to  know 
two  things  of  great  importance  to  be  known :  one 
was,  that  a  person  of  tried  wisdom  and  good  experi- 
ence like  Golden,  was  fitter  to  transact  the  business 
of  the  province,  than  any  dependant  of  his  own  : 
the  other,  that  he  was  totally  unfit  to  manage  it 
himself.  The  government  house  was  the  scene 
of  frequent  festivities  and  weekly  concerts,  Sir 
Henry  being  very  musical,  and  Lady  Moore  pecul- 
iarly fitted  for  doing  the  honors  of  a  drawing-room 
or  entertainment.  They  were  too  fashionable,  and 
too  much  hurried  to  find  time  for  particular  friend- 
ships, and  too  good  natured  and  well  bred  to  make 
invidious  distinctions,  so  that,  without  gaining  very 
much  either  of  esteem  or  affection,  they  pleased 
every  one  in  the  circle  around  them ;  and  this 
general  civility  of  theirs,  in  the  storm  which  was 
about  to  rise,  had  its  use.1  In  the  beginning, 
before  the  tempest  broke  loose  in  all  its  fury,  it 

1  See  Appletons'  "Cyclopaedia  of  American  Biography,"  vol.  IV., 
and  Wilson's  "History  of  New  York,"  vol.  11. 


134  MEMOIRS    OF 

was  like  oil  poured  on  agitated  waters,  which  pro- 
duces a  temporary  calm  immediately  round  the 
ship.  As  yet  the  storm  only  muttered  at  a  dis- 
tance, but  Madame  was  disturbed  by  anxious  pre- 
sages. In  her  case, 

"  Old  experience  actually  did  attain 
To  something  like  prophetic  strain." 

But  it  was  not  new  to  her  to  prophesy  in  vain. 
I,  for  my  part,  was  charmed  with  these  exalted 
visitors  of  aunt's,  and  not  a  little  proud  of  their 
attention  to  her,  not  knowing  that  they  showed 
pretty  much  the  same  attention  to  every  one. 

While  I  was  dancing  on  air  with  the  thoughts 
of  going  to  live  at  the  Flats,  of  the  beauties  of 
Clarendon,  and  many  other  delights  which  I  had 
created  to  myself,  an  event  took  place  that  plunged 
us  all  in  sorrow ;  it  was  the  death  of  the  lovely 
child  Catalina,  who  was  the  object  of  much  fond- 
ness to  us  all,  for  my  parents,  bating  the  allowance 
to  be  made  for  enthusiasm,  were  as  fond  of  her 
as  I  was  ;  Madame  had  set  her  heart  very  much 
on  this  engaging  creature ;  she  mustered  up  all 
her  fortitude  to  support  the  parents  of  her  departed 
favorite,  but  suffered  much  notwithstanding.  Here 
began  my  acquaintance  with  sorrow.  We  went, 
however,  to  the  Flats  in  autumn.  Our  family  con- 
sisted of  a  negro  girl,  and  a  soldier,  who  had 
followed  my  father's  fortunes  from  Scotland,  and 
stuck  to  him  through  every  change.  We  did  not 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        135 

mean  to  farm,  but  had  merely  the  garden,  orchard, 
and  enclosure  for  hay,  two  cows,  a  horse  for  my 
father,  and  a  colt,  which,  to  my  great  delight,  was 
given  me  as  a  present.  Many  sources  of  comfort 
and  amusement  were  now  cut  off  from  Madame, 
her  nephew  and  his  lively  and  accomplished  wife 
had  left  her,  Dr.  Ogilvie  was  removed  to  New  York, 
and  had  a  successor  no  way  calculated  to  supply 
his  place.  This  year  she  had  lost  her  brother-in- 
law  Cornelius  Cuyler,1  whose  sound  sense  and  in- 
telligence made  his  society  of  consequence  to  her, 

1  This  estimable  character  had  for  the  space  of  forty  years  (which 
included  very  important  and  critical  conjunctures)  been  chief  magis- 
trate of  Albany,  and  its  district.  A  situation  calculated  to  demand  the 
utmost  integrity  and  impartiality,  and  to  exercise  all  the  powers  of  a 
mind,  acute,  vigilant,  and  comprehensive.  The  less  he  was  amenable 
to  the  control  and  direction  of  his  superiors,  the  more  liable  was  he  to 
the  animadversions  of  his  fellow  citizens,  had  he  in  the  least  departed 
from  that  rectitude  which  made  him  the  object  of  their  confidence  and 
veneration.  He  administered  justice,  not  so  much  in  conformity  to 
written  laws,  as  to  that  rule  of  equity  within  his  own  breast,  the  ap- 
plication of  which  was  directed  by  sound  sense,  improved  by  experi- 
ence. I  by  no  means  insinuate,  that  he  either  neglected  or  disobeyed 
those  laws,  by  which,  in  all  doubtful  cases  he  was  certainly  guided  ; 
but  that  the  uncorrupted  state  of  public  morals,  and  the  entire  confi- 
dence which  his  fellow  citizens  reposed  in  his  probity,  rendered  appeals 
;  to  the  law,  for  the  most  part,  superfluous.  I  have  heard  that  the 
family  of  the  Cuylers  was  originally  a  German  one  of  high  rank. 
Whether  this  can  or  cannot  be  ascertained,  is  of  little  consequence. 
The  sterling  worth  of  their  immediate  ancestor,  and  his  long  and  faith- 
ful services  to  the  public,  reflect  more  honor  on  his  descendants  than 
any  length  of  pedigree.  —  Mrs.  Grant.  [Cornelius  Cuyler  was  an 
Albany  merchant,  some  years  alderman  of  the  second  ward,  mayor  of 
Albany,  commissioner  of  Indian  affairs,  and  held  the  office  of  magis- 
trate some  time,  which  long  service  in  various  capacities  led  Mrs.  Grant 
to  attribute  to  him  forty  years  of  chief  magistracy.] 


136  MEMOIRS    OF 

independent  of  the  great  esteem  and  affection  she 
had  for  him.  The  army,  among  whom  she  always 
found  persons  of  information  and  good  breeding, 
in  whose  conversation  she  could  take  pleasure 
which  might  be  truly  called  such,  were  gone. 
Nothing  could  compensate,  in  her  opinion,  for 
the  privation  of  that  enjoyment ;  she  read,  but 
then  the  people  about  her  had  so  little  taste  for 
reading,  that  she  had  not  her  wonted  pleasure  in 
that,  for  want  of  some  one  with  whom  she  could 
discuss  the  topics  suggested  by  her  studies.  It  was 
in  this  poverty  of  society  such  as  she  was  accus- 
tomed to  enjoy,  that  she  took  a  fancy  to  converse 
much  with  me,  to  regret  my  want  of  education, 
and  to  take  a  particular  interest  in  my  employ- 
ments and  mental  improvement.  That  I  might 
more  entirely  profit  by  her  attention,  she  requested 
my  parents  to  let  me  pass  the  winter  with  her; 
this  invitation  they  gladly  complied  with. 

The  winter  at  the  Flats  was  sufficiently  melancholy, 
and  rendered  less  agreeable  by  some  unpleasant 
neighbors  we  had.  These  were  a  family  from  New 
England,  who  had  been  preparing  to  occupy  lands 
near  those  occupied  by  my  father.  They  had  been 
the  summer  before  recommended  to  aunt's  gener- 
ous humanity,  as  honest  people,  who  merely  wanted 
a  shelter  in  a  room  in  her  empty  house,  till  they 
should  build  a  temporary  hut  on  those  new  lands 
which  they  were  about  to  inhabit.  When  we  came, 
the  time  permitted  to  them  had  long  elapsed,  but 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         137 

my  father,  who  was  exceedingly  humane,  indulged 
them  with  a  fortnight  more  after  our  arrival,  on 
the  pretence  of  the  sickness  of  a  child ;  and  there 
they  sat,  and  would  not  remove  for  the  winter, 
unless  coercion  had  been  used  for  that  purpose. 
We  lived  on  the  road  side ;  there  was  at  that  time 
a  perpetual  emigration  going  on  from  the  provinces 
of  New  England  to  our  back  settlements.  Our 
acquaintance  with  the  family  who  kept  possession 
beside  us,  and  with  many  of  even  the  better  sort, 
who  came  to  bargain  with  my  father  about  his 
lands,  gave  us  more  insight  than  we  wished  into 
the  prevalent  character  of  those  people,  whom  we 
found  conceited,  litigious,  and  selfish  beyond  meas- 
;  ure.  My  father  was  told  that  the  only  safe  way 
to  avoid  being  overreached  by  them  in  a  bargain, 
was  to  give  them  a  kind  of  tacit  permission  to  sit 
down  on  his  lands,  and  take  his  chance  of  settling 
with  them  when  they  were  brought  into  some 
degree  of  cultivation ;  for  if  one  did  bargain  with 
them,  the  custom  was  to  have  three  years  free  for 
clearing,  at  the  end  of  which,  the  rents  or  purchase 
money  was  paid.  By  that  time,  any  person  who 
had  expended  much  labor  on  land,  would  rather 
pay  a  reasonable  price  or  rent  for  it,  than  be 
removed. 

In  the  progress  of  his  intercourse   with    these 

I  very  vulgar,  insolent,  and  truly  disagreeable  people, 

I  my  father  began  to  disrelish  the  thoughts  of  going 

up  to  live  among  them.     They  flocked  indeed  so 


138  MEMOIRS    OF 

fast,  to  every  unoccupied  spot,  that  their  malignant 
and  envious  spirit,  their  hatred  of  subordination, 
and  their  indifference  to  the  mother  country,  began 
to  spread  like  a  taint  of  infection. 

These  illiberal  opinions,  which  produced  manners 
equally  illiberal,  were  particularly  wounding  to  dis- 
banded officers,  and  to  the  real  patriots,  who  had 
consulted  in  former  times  the  happiness  of  the 
country,  by  giving  their  zealous  cooperation  to 
the  troops  sent  to  protect  it.  These  two  classes 
of  people  began  now  to  be  branded  as  the  slaves 
of  arbitrary  power,  and  all  tendencies  to  elegance 
or  refinement  were  despised  as  leading  to  aristocracy. 
The  consequence  of  all  this  was,  such  an  opposition 
of  opinions,  as  led  people  of  the  former  description 
to  seek  each  other's  society  exclusively.  Winter 
was  the  only  time  that  distant  friends  met  there, 
and  to  avoid  the  chagrin  resulting  from  this  dis- 
tempered state  of  society,  veterans  settled  in  the 
country  were  too  apt  to  devote  themselves  to 
shooting  and  fishing,  taking  refuge  from  languor 
in  these  solitary  amusements. 

We  had  one  brave  and  royal  neighbor,  however, 
who  saw  us  often,  and  was  "every  inch  a  gentle- 
man ; "  this  was  Pedrom,1  aunt's  brother-in-law, 
in  whom  lived  the  spirit  of  the  Schuylers,  and  who 

1  Pedrom' s  residence  was  on  the  Kromme  kil,  near  the  late  residence 
of  Robert  Dunlop,  opposite  the  cemetery.  This  crooked  (kromme) 
stream,  which  had  formerly  a  considerable  flow,  has,  like  all  the  cur- 
rents from  the  neighboring  hills,  shrunk  to  a  feeble  brooklet,  only 
noticeable  in  time  of  freshet. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       139 

was  our  next  neighbor  and  cordial  friend.  He  was 
now  old,  detached  from  the  world,  and  too  hard 
of  hearing,  to  be  an  easy  companion  :  yet  he  had 
much  various  information,  and  was  endeared  to  us 
by  similarity  of  principle. 

Matters  were  beginning  to  be  in  this  state  the 
first  winter  I  went  to  live  with  aunt.  Her  friends 
were  much  dispersed ;  all  conversation  was  tainted 
with  politics,  Cromwellian  politics  too,  which  of 
all  things,  she  disliked.  Her  nephew,  Cortlandt 
Schuyler,  who  had  been  a  great  Nimrod  ever  since 
he  could  carry  a  gun,  and  who  was  a  man  of  strict 
honor  and  nice  feelings,  took  such  a  melancholy 
view  of  things,  and  so  little  relished  that  stamp  act, 
which  was  the  exclusive  subject  of  all  conversation, 
that  he  devoted  himself  more  and  more  to  the 
chase,  and  seemed  entirely  to  renounce  a  society 
which  he  had  never  greatly  loved.  As  I  shall  not 
refer  to  him  again  I  shall  only  mention  here,  that 
:his  estimable  person  was  taken  away  from  the  evil 
:o  come  two  years  after,  by  a  premature  death, 
)eing  killed  by  a  fall  from  his  horse  in  hunting. 
»Vhat  sorrows  were  hid  from  his  eyes  by  this  timely 
scape  from  scenes,  which  would  have  been  to  him 
>eculiarly  wounding ! 

If  Madame's  comforts  in  society  were  diminished, 
er  domestic  satisfactions  were  not  less  so.  By  the 
jme  I  came  to  live  with  her,  Mariamat  and  Diana- 
lat1  were  almost  superannuated,  and  had  lost,  in 

1  Mat,  or  mater,  mother  or  superior  of  the  negroes. 


i4o  MEMOIRS    OF 

a  great  measure,  the  restraining  power  they  used  to 
exercise  over  their  respective  offspring.  Their 
woolly  heads  were  snow  white,  and  they  were 
become  so  feeble,  that  they  sat  each  in  her  great 
chair  at  the  opposite  side  of  the  fire ;  their  wonted 
jealousy  was  now  embittered  to  rancor,  and  their 
love  of  tobacco  greater  than  ever.  They  were 
arrived  at  that  happy  period  of  ease  and  indolence, 
which  left  them  at  full  liberty  to  smoke  and  scold 
the  whole  day  long;  this  they  did  with  such  un- 
wearied perseverance,  and  in  a  manner  so  ludicrous, 
that  to  us  young  people  they  were  a  perpetual 
comedy. 

Sorely  now  did  aunt  lament  the  promise  she  had 
kept  so  faithfully,  never  to  sell  any  of  the  colonel's 
negroes.  There  was  so  little  to  do  for  fourteen 
persons,  except  the  business  they  created  for  each 
other,  and  it  was  so  impossible  to  keep  them  from 
too  freely  sharing  the  plenty  of  her  liberal  house, 
that  idleness  and  abundance  literally  began  to 
corrupt  them. 

All  these  privations  and  uneasinesses  will  in  some 
measure  account  for  such  a  person  as  Madame 
taking  such  pleasure  in  the  society  of  an  overgrown 
child.  But  then  she  was  glad  to  escape  from  dark 
prospects  and  cross  politics,  to  the  amusement 
derived  from  the  innocent  cheerfulness,  natural  to 
that  time  of  life.  A  passion  for  reading,  and  a 
very  comprehensive  memory  too,  had  furnished  my 
mind  with  more  variety  of  knowledge,  than  fell  to 


AN     AMERICAN     LADY       141 

the  lot  of  those,  who  living  in  large  families,  and 
sharing  the  amusements  of  childhood,  were  not, 
like  me,  driven  to  that  only  resource.  All  this 
will  help  to  account  for  a  degree  of  confidence  and 
favor,  daily  increasing,  which  ended  in  my  being 
admitted  to  sleep  in  a  little  bed  beside  her,  which 
never  happened  to  any  other.  In  the  winter  nights 
our  conversations  often  encroached  on  the  earlier 
hours  of  morning.  The  future  appeared  to  her 
dubious  and  cheerless,  which  was  one  reason,  I 
suppose,  that  her  active  mind  turned  solely  on 
retrospection.  She  saw  that  I  listened  with  de- 
lighted attention  to  the  tales  of  other  times,  which 
no  one  could  recount  so  well.  These,  too,  were 
doubly  interesting,  as,  like  the  sociable  angel's 
conversation  with  our  first  father,  they  related  to 
the  origin  and  formation  of  all  I  saw  around  me ; 
they  afforded  food  for  reflection,  to  which  I  was 
very  early  addicted,  and  hourly  increased  my  ven- 
eration for  her  whom  I  already  considered  as  my 
polar  star.  The  great  love  I  had  for  her  first  gave 
interest  to  her  details;  and  again,  the  nature  of 
these  details  increased  my  esteem  for  the  narrator. 
Thus  passed  this  winter  of  felicity,  which  so  much 
enlarged  my  stock  of  ideas,  that  in  looking  back 
upon  it,  I  thought  I  had  lived  three  years  in  one. 


Chapter  XIX 

RETURN  TO  THE  FLATS  — SUMMER  AMUSEMENTS 

SUMMER  came,  and  with  it  visitors,  as  usual, 
to  Madame  from  New  York  and  other  places ; 
among  whom,  I  remember,  were  her  nieces  Mrs. 
L.  and  Mrs.  C.  I  went  to  the  Flats,  and  was,  as 
usual,  kept  very  close  to  my  needle-work ;  but 
though  there  was  no  variety  to  amuse  me,  summer 
slid  by  very  fast.  My  mind  was  continually  occupied 
with  aunt,  and  all  the  passages  of  her  life.  My 
greatest  pleasure  was  to  read  over  again  the  books 
I  had  read  to  her,  and  recollect  her  observations 
upon  them.  I  often  got  up  and  went  out  to  the 
door  to  look  at  places  where  particular  things  had 
happened.  She  spent  the  winter's  nights  in  retro- 
spections of  her  past  life  ;  and  I  spent  the  summer 
days  in  retrospections  of  these  winter  nights.  But 
these  were  not  my  only  pleasures.  The  banks  of 
the  river  and  the  opposite  scenery  delighted  me ; 
and,  adopting  all  aunt's  tastes  and  attachments,  I 
made  myself  believe  I  was  very  fond  of  Pedrom 
and  Susanna  Muet,  as  the  widow  of  Jeremiah  was 
called.  My  attention  to  them  excited  their  kind- 
ness ;  and  the  borrowed  sentiment,  on  my  part, 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        143 

soon  became  a  real  one.  These  old  friends  were 
very  amusing.  But  then  I  had  numberless  young 
friends,  who  shared  my  attention,  and  were  in  their 
own  way  very  amusing  too.  These  were  the  objects 
of  my  earliest  cares  in  the  morning,  and  my  need- 
less solicitude  all  day.  I  had  marked  down  in  a 
list,  between  thirty  and  forty  nests  of  various  kinds 
of  birds.  It  was  an  extreme  dry  summer;  and  I 
saw  the  parent  birds,  whom  I  diligently  watched, 
often  panting  with  heat,  and,  as  I  thought,  fatigued. 
After  all  I  had  heard  and  seen  of  aunt,  I  thought 
it  incumbent  on  me  to  be  good  and  kind  to  some 
being  that  needed  my  assistance.  To  my  fellow- 
creatures  my  power  did  not  extend ;  therefore  I 
wisely  resolved  to  adapt  my  mode  of  beneficence  to 
the  sphere  of  action  assigned  to  me,  and  decided 
upon  the  judicious  scheme  of  assisting  all  these 
birds  to  feed  their  young.  My  confederate  Marian 
(our  negro  girl),  entered  heartily  into  this  plan ; 
and  it  was  the  business  of  the  morning,  before  tasks 
commenced,  to  slaughter  innumerable  insects,  and 
gather  quantities  of  cherries  and  other  fruit  for  that 
purpose.  Portions  of  this  provision  we  laid  beside 
every  nest,  and  then  applauded  ourselves  for  saving 
the  poor  birds'  fatigue.  This,  from  a  pursuit,  became 
a  passion.  Every  spare  moment  was  devoted  to 
it,  and  every  hour  made  new  discoveries  of  the 
nature  and  habits  of  our  winged  friends,  which  we 
considered  as  amply  recompensing  our  labors. 
The  most  eager  student  of  natural  philosophy 


144  MEMOIRS    OF 

could  not  be  more  attentive  to  those  objects,  or 
more  intent  on  making  discoveries.  One  sad  dis- 
covery we  made,  that  mortified  us  exceedingly. 
The  mocking-bird  is  very  scarce  and  very  shy  in 
this  northern  district.  A  pair  came,  however,  to 
our  inexpressible  delight,  and  built  a  nest  in  a  very 
high  tree  in  our  garden.  Never  was  joy  like  ours. 
At  the  imminent  risk  of  our  necks  we  made  shift  to 
ascend  to  this  lofty  dwelling  during  the  absence  of 
the  owners  ;  birds  we  found  none ;  but  three  eggs 
of  a  color  so  equivocal,  that,  deciding  the  point 
whether  they  were  green  or  blue,  furnished  matter  of 
debate  for  the  rest  of  the  day.  To  see  these  treasures 
was  delightful,  and  to  refrain  from  touching  them  im- 
possible. One  of  the  young  we  resolved  to  appro- 
priate, contrary  to  our  general  humane  procedure; 
and  the  next  weighty  affair  to  be  discussed,  was  the 
form  and  size  of  the  cage  which  was  to  contain  this 
embryo  warbler.  The  parents,  however,  arrived. 
On  examining  the  premises,  by  some  mysterious 
mode  of  their  own,  they  discovered  that  their  secret 
had  been  explored,  and  that  profane  hands  had 
touched  the  objects  of  all  their  tenderness.  Their 
plaintive  cries  we  too  well  understood.  That  whole 
evening  and  all  the  next  day  they  were  busied  in 
the  orchard;  while  their  loud  lamentations,  con- 
stantly reiterated,  pierced  us  with  remorse.  We 
soon  saw  the  garden  nest  forsaken :  and  a  little 
further  examination  soon  convinced  us,  that  the 
violated  eggs  had  been  transported  to  another, 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         145 

where,  however,  they  were  not  hatched;  the  deli- 
cate instincts,  which  directed  these  creatures  to  form 
a  new  nest,  and  carry  off  their  eggs,  on  finding  they 
had  been  handled,  did  not,  at  the  same  time,  inform 
them,  that  eggs  carried  away,  and  shaken  by  that 
motion  during  the  process  of  incubation,  cannot 
produce  anything. 

The  great  barn,  which  I  formerly  described, 
afforded  scope  for  our  observations  of  this  nature ; 
and  here  we  remarked  a  phenomenon,  that  I  am 
still  at  a  loss  to  account  for.  In  the  highest  part 
of  that  spacious  and  lofty  roof,  multitudes  of  swal- 
lows, of  the  martin  species,  made  their  nests.  These 
were  constructed  of  mud  or  clay  as  usual,  and,  in 
the  ordinary  course  of  things,  lasted,  with  some 
repairs,  from  year  to  year.  This  summer,  however, 
being  unusually  hot  and  dry,  the  nests,  in  great 
numbers,  cracked  and  fell  down  on  the  floor,  with 
the  young  ones  in  them.  We  often  found  them  in 
this  situation,  but  always  found  the  birds  in  them 
alive  and  unhurt;  and  saw  the  old  ones  come  to 
feed  them  on  the  floor,  which  they  did  with  such 
eager  confidence,  that  they  often  brushed  so  near  as 
to  touch  us.  Now  we  could  no  other  way  account 
for  the  nests  always  coming  down  with  the  birds 
unhurt  in  them,  but  by  supposing  that  the  swallows 
watched  the  fracture  of  the  nests,  and  when  they 
saw  them  about  to  fall,  came  round  the  descending 
fabric,  and  kept  it  in  a  kind  of  equilibrium.  Of 
these  birds  we  stood  in  such  profound  awe,  that  we 


VOL.   II.  —  10 


146  MEMOIRS 

never  profited  by  the  accident  which  put  them  in 
our  power ;  we  would  not  indeed,  for  any  consider- 
ation, have  touched  them,  especially  after  the  sad 
adventure  of  the  mocking  bird,  which  hung  very 
heavy  upon  our  consciences. 

Autumn  came,  and  aunt  came  at  the  appointed 
day,  the  anniversary  of  his  death,  to  visit  the  tomb 
of  her  beloved  consort.  This  ceremony  always 
took  place  at  that  time.  She  concluded  it  with  a 
visit  to  us,  and  an  earnest  request  for  my  returning 
with  her,  and  remaining  the  winter. 


Chapter  XX 

MELANCHOLY  PRESAGES  — TURBULENCE  OF  THE 
PEOPLE 

f  I^HE  conversations  between  my  father  and  aunt 
JL  assumed  a  melancholy  cast.  Their  hopes  of 
a  golden  age  in  that  country  (now  that  the  flames 
of  war  were  entirely  quenched)  grew  weaker.  The 
repeal  of  the  stamp  act  occasioned  excessive  joy,  but 
produced  little  gratitude.  The  youth  of  the  town, 
before  that  news  arrived,  had  abandoned  their  wonted 
sports,  and  begun  to  amuse  themselves  with  break- 
ing the  windows  and  destroying  the  furniture  of  two 
or  three  different  people,  who  had,  in  succession, 
been  suspected  of  being  stamp-masters  in  embryo. 
My  father  grew  fonder  than  ever  of  fishing  and 
shooting,  because  birds  and  fish  did  not  talk  of 
tyranny  or  taxes.  Sometimes  we  were  refreshed  by 
a  visit  from  some  of  aunt's  nephews,  the  sons  of  the 
mayor.  They  always  left  us  in  great  good  humor, 
for  they  spoke  respectfully  of  our  dear  king,  and 
dearer  country.  But  this  sunshine  was  transient; 
they  were  soon  succeeded  by  Obadiah  or  Zephaniah, 
from  Hampshire  or  Connecticut,  who  came  in  with- 
out knocking;  sat  down  without  invitation;  and 


148  MEMOIRS     OF 

lighted  their  pipe  without  ceremony;  then  talked 
of  buying  land ;  and,  finally,  began  a  discourse  on 
politics,  which  would  have  done  honor  to  Praise 
God  Barebones,  or  any  of  the  members  of  his  par- 
liament. What  is  very  singular,  is,  that  though  the 
plain-spoken  and  manly  natives  of  our  settlement 
had  a  general  dislike  to  the  character  of  those  liti- 
gious and  loquacious  pretenders,  such  are  the  in- 
consistencies into  which  people  are  led  by  party, 
that  they  insensibly  adopted  many  of  their  notions. 
With  Madame  I  was  quite  free  from  this  plague. 
None  of  that  chosen  race  ever  entered  her  door. 
She  valued  time  too  much  to  devote  it  to  a  set  of 
people  whom  she  considered  as  greatly  wanting  in 
sincerity.  I  speak  now  of  the  Hampshire  and 
Connecticut  people.  In  towns  and  at  sea-ports  the 
old  leaven  had  given  way  to  that  liberality  which 
was  produced  by  a  better  education,  and  an  inter- 
course with  strangers.  Much  as  aunt's  loyal  and 
patriotic  feelings  were  hurt  by  the  new  mode  of 
talking  which  prevailed,  her  benevolence  was  not 
cooled,  nor  her  mode  of  living  changed. 

I  continued  to  grow  in  favor  with  aunt  this  winter; 
for  the  best  possible  reasons,  I  was  the  only  one  of 
the  family  that  would  sit  still  with  her.  The  young 
people  in  the  house  were  by  no  means  congenial 
with  her ;  and  each  had  a  love  affair  in  hand  fast 
ripening  into  matrimony,  that  took  up  all  their 
thoughts.  Mr.  H.  our  chaplain,  was  plausible, 
but  superficial,  vain,  and  ambitious.  He  too  was 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       149 

busied  in  hatching  a  project  of  another  kind.  On 
pretence  of  study,  he  soon  retired  to  his  room  after 
meals,  dreading  no  doubt  that  aunt  might  be  in 
possession  of  Ithuriel's  spear,  or  to  speak  without  a 
figure,  might  either  fathom  his  shallowness  or  detect 
his  project.  One  of  these  discoveries  he  knew 
would  sink  him  in  her  opinion,  and  the  other  ex- 
clude him  from  her  house.  For  my  own  part,  I  was 
always  puzzling  myself  to  consider,  why  I  did  not 
more  love  and  reverence  Mr.  H.,  who  I  took  it  for 
granted  must  needs  be  good,  wise,  and  learned; 
for  I  thought  a  clergyman  was  all  but  inspired. 
Thus  thinking,  I  wondered  why  I  did  not  feel  for 
Mr.  H.  what  I  felt  for  aunt  in  some  degree;  but 
unfortunately  Mr.  H.  was  a  true  bred  native  of 
Connecticut,  which  perhaps  helped  more  than  any 
intuitive  penetration  to  prevent  any  excess  of  ven- 
eration. Aunt  and  I  read  Burnet's  memoirs  and 
some  biography  this  winter,  and  talked  at  least  over 
much  geography  and  natural  history.  Here  indeed, 
I  was  in  some  degree  obliged  to  Mr.  H.  I  mean 
for  a  few  lessons  on  the  globe.  He  had  too  an 
edition  of  Shakespeare.  I  have  been  trying  but  in 
vain  to  recollect  what  aunt  said  of  this.  Not  much 
certainly,  but  she  was  much  pleased  with  the  Essay 
on  Man,  etc.  Yet  I  somehow  understood  that 
Shakespeare  was  an  admired  author,  and  was  not  a 
little  mortified  when  I  found  myself  unable  to  ap- 
preciate his  merits.  I  suppose  my  taste  had  been 
vitiated  by  bombast  tragedies  I  had  read  at  Colonel 


150  MEMOIRS    OF 

E's.  I  thought  them  grossly  familiar,  and  very 
inferior  to  Cato,  whom  aunt  had  taught  me  to  ad- 
mire ;  in  short  I  was  ignorant,  and  because  I  could 
read  Milton,  did  not  know  my  own  ignorance.  I 
did  not  expect  to  meet  nature  in  a  play,  and  there- 
fore did  not  recognize  her.  'Tis  not  to  be  con- 
ceived how  I  puzzled  over  Hamlet,  or  how  his 
assumed  madness  and  abuse  of  Ophelia  confounded 
me.  Othello's  jealousy,  and  the  manner  in  which  he 
expressed  it,  were  quite  beyond  my  comprehension. 

I  mention  these  things  as  a  warning  to  other 
young  people  not  to  admire  by  rote,  but  to  wait 
the  unfolding  of  their  own  taste,  if  they  would 
derive  real  pleasure  from  the  works  of  genius. 
I  rather  imagine  I  was  afraid  aunt  would  think  I 
devoted  too  much  time  to  what  I  then  considered 
as  a  trifling  book.  For  I  remember  reading  Hamlet 
the  third  or  fourth  time,  in  a  frosty  night,  by  moon- 
light, in  the  back  porch.  This  reiterated  perusal 
was  not  in  consequence  of  any  great  pleasure  it 
afforded  me ;  but  I  was  studiously  laboring  to  dis- 
cover the  excellence  I  thought  it  must  needs  con- 
tain ;  yet  with  more  diligence  than  success.  Madame 
was  at  this  time,  I  imagine,  foreseeing  a  storm,  and 
trying  to  withdraw  her  mind  as  much  as  possible 
from  earthly  objects. 

Forty  years  before  this  period,  a  sister  of  the  de- 
ceased colonel  had  married  a  very  worthy  man  of 
the  name  of  Wendell.1  He  being  a  person  of  an 

1  Jacob  Wendell,  a  half-brother  of  Aunt  Schuyler,  settled  in  Boston 
as  a  merchant,  and  attained  to  a  high  position  in  business  and  civil  life. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       151 

active,  enterprising  disposition,  and  possessing  more 
portable  wealth  than  usually  fell  to  the  share  of 
the  natives  there,  was  induced  to  join  some  great 
commercial  company  near  Boston,  and  settled  there. 
He  was  highly  prosperous  and  much  beloved,  and 
for  a  while  cultivated  a  constant  commerce  with  the 
friends  he  left  behind.  When  he  died,  however, 
his  wife,  who  was  a  meek,  benevolent  woman,  with- 
out distrust,  and  a  stranger  to  business,  was  very 
ill-treated :  her  sons,  who  had  been  married  in 
the  country,  died.  Their  connections  secured  the 
family  property  for  their  children.  In  the  primi- 
tive days  of  New  York,  a  marriage  settlement  was 
an  unheard  of  thing.  Far  from  her  native  home, 
having  out-lived  her  friends,  helpless  and  uncom- 
plaining, this  good  woman,  who  had  lived  all  her 
days  in  the  midst  of  deserved  affluence  and  affec- 
tion, was  now  stripped  by  chicanery  of  all  her 
rights,  and  sinking  into  poverty  without  a  friend 
Dr  comforter.  Aunt,  immediately  upon  hearing 
|his,  set  on  foot  a  negotiation  to  get  Mrs.  Wen- 
Jell's  affairs  regulated,  so  that  she  might  have  the 
neans  of  living  with  comfort  in  a  country  in  which 
t>ng  residence  had  naturalized  her ;  or  that  failing, 

0  bring  her  home  to  reside  with  herself.     Perhaps 

1  the  whole  course  of  her  life,  she  had  not  experi- 
nced  so  much  of  the  depravity  of  human  nature  as 
|iis    inquiry    unfolded    to    her.     The    negotiation, 
owever,  cheered  and  busied  her  at  a  time  when 
le  greatly  needed  some  exertion  of  mind  to  check 


152  MEMOIRS    OF 

the  current  of  thought  produced  by  the  rapid  anc 
astonishing  change  of  manners  and  sentiment; 
around  her.  But  in  our  province  there  were  twc 
classes  of  people  who  absolutely  seemed  let  loose 
by  the  demon  of  discord,  for  the  destruction  of 
public  peace  and  private  confidence.  One  of  these 
was  composed  of  lawyers,  who  multiplied  so  fasi 
that  one  would  think  they  rose  like  mushroom; 
from  the  earth.  For  many  years  one  lawyer  was 
sufficient  for  the  whole  settlement.  But  the  swarrr 
of  these,  which  had  made  so  sudden  and  portentous 
an  appearance,  had  been  encouraged  to  choose  thai 
profession,  because  a  wide  field  was  open  for  future 
contention,  merely  from  the  candor  and  simplicity 
of  the  last  generation. 

Not  in  the  least  distrusting  each  other,  nor  aware 
of  the  sudden  rise  of  the  value  of  lands,  these  primi- 
tive colonists  got  large  grants  from  government,  tc 
encourage  their  efforts  in  the  early  stages  of  cultiva- 
tion ;  these  lands  being  first  purchased,  for  some 
petty  consideration,  from  the  Indians,  who  alone 
knew  the  land  marks  of  that  illimitable  forest. 

The  boundaries  of  such  large  grants,  when  after- 
wards confirmed  by  government,  were  distinguished 
by  the  terms  used  by  the  Indians,  who  pointed 
them  out ;  and  very  extraordinary  marks  they  were. 
For  instance,  one  that  I  recollect.  "  We  exchange 
with  our  brother  Cornelius  Rensselaer,  for  so  many 
strouds,  guns,  etc.,  the  lands  beginning  at  the  beaver 
creek,  going  on  northward,  to  the  great  fallen  plane 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       153 

tree,  where  our  tribe  slept  last  summer ;  then  east- 
ward, to  the  three  great  cedars  on  the  hillock ;  then 
westward,  strait  to  the  wild  duck  swamp ;  and  strait 
on  from  the  swamp  to  the  turn  in  the  beaver  creek 
where  the  old  dam  was."  1 

Such  are  the  boundaries  seriously  described  in 
this  manner,  in  one  of  the  earliest  patents.  The 
only  mode,  then  existing,  of  fixing  those  vague 
limits  was  to  mark  large  trees  which  grew  at  the 
corners  of  the  property,  with  the  owner's  name 
deeply  cut,  along  with  the  date  of  the  patent,  etc., 
after  blazing,  that  is  to  say,  cutting  deeply  into  the 
tree,  for  a  plain  space  to  hold  this  inscription. 

In  this  primitive  manner  were  all  the  estates  in 
the  province  bounded.  Towards  the  sea  this  did 
very  well,  as  the  patents,  in  a  manner,  bounded 
each  other ;  and  every  one  took  care  to  prevent  the 
encroachments  of  his  neighbor.  But  in  the  interior 
people  took  great  stretches  of  land  here  and  there, 
where  there  were  not  patented  lands  adjoining; 
there  being  no  continuity  of  fertile  ground  except 
on  the  banks  of  streams.  The  only  security  the 
public  had  against  these  trees  being  cut  down,  or 
others  at  a  greater  distance  marked  in  their  stead, 
was  a  law  which  made  such  attempts  penal.  This 
was  a  very  nugatory  threat ;  it  being  impossible  to 

1  The  boundless  wilderness  was  thought  to  afford  such  an  inex- 
haustible region  for  townships,  domains,  settlements,  farms,  etc.,  that 
boundaries  were  loosely  described,  whether  for  large  or  small  tracts. 
See  note,  vol.  I.  p.  56. 


154  MEMOIRS     OF 

prove  such  an  offence.  Crimes  of  this  nature  en- 
croaching on  the  property  of  individuals,  I  believe, 
rarely  happened :  but  to  enlarge  one's  boundary, 
by  taking  in  a  little  of  King  George's  ground,  to 
use  a  provincial  phrase,  was  considered  as  no  great 
harm ;  and,  besides,  many  possessed  extensive  tracts 
of  land  unquestioned,  merely  on  the  strength  of 
Indian  grants  unsanctioned  by  government.  One 
in  particular,  the  proudest  man  I  ever  knew,  had  a 
law-suit  with  the  king,  for  more  land  than  would 
form  a  German  principality.  Now  that  the  inun- 
dation of  litigious  new  settlers,  from  Massachusetts' 
bounds,  had  awakened  the  spirit  of  inquiry,  to  call 
it  no  worse,  every  day  produced  a  fresh  law-suit, 
and  all  of  the  same  nature,  about  ascertaining  bound- 
aries. In  one  instance,  where  a  gentleman  was  sup- 
posed to  be  unfairly  possessed  of  a  vast  tract  of 
fine  land,  a  confederacy  of  British  officers,  I  must 
confess,  questioned  his  right ; l  applying  beforehand 
for  a  grant  of  such  lands  as  they  could  prove  the 
possessor  entitled  to ;  and  contributing  among  them 
a  sum  of  money  to  carry  on  this  'great  law-suit, 
which  having  been  given  against  them  in  the  prov- 
ince, they  appealed  to  the  board  of  trade  and  plan- 
tations at  home.  Here  the  uncertainty  of  the  law 

1  After  the  conquest  of  Canada  some  British  officers,  wishing  to 
settle  in  the  country,  applied  for  a  patent  of  lands  in  Claverack,  N.  Y., 
belonging  to  Col.  John  Van  Rensselaer,  father  of  General  Schuyler's 
wife.  The  lands  had  been  in  possession  of  the  Van  Rensselaers  an 
hundred  and  thirty  years,  secured  to  them  by  purchase  of  the  Indians, 
and  by  royal  patents.  The  application  was  eventually  denied. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       155 

was  very  glorious  indeed ;  and  hence,  from  the  gain- 
ful prospect  opening  before  them,  swarms  of  petu- 
lant, half-educated  young  men,  started  one  knew 
not  whence.  And  as  these  great  law-suits  were 
matter  of  general  concern,  no  one  knowing  whose 
turn  might  be  next,  all  conversation  begun  to  be 
infected  with  litigious  cant;  and  everything  seemed 
unstable  and  perplexed. 


Chapter  XXI 

SETTLERS  OF  A   NEW  DESCRIPTION  —  MADAME'S 
CHAPLAIN 

ANOTHER  class  of  people  contributed  their 
share  to  destroy  the  quiet  and  order  of  the 
country.  While  the  great  army,  that  had  now  re- 
turned to  Britain,  had  been  stationed  in  America, 
the  money  they  spent  there,  had,  in  a  great  mea- 
sure, centred  in  New  York,  where  many  ephem- 
eral adventurers  began  to  flourish  as  merchants, 
who  lived  in  a  gay  and  even  profuse  style,  and 
affected  the  language  and  manners  of  the  army  on 
which  they  depended.  Elated  with  sudden  pros- 
perity, those  people  attempted  every  thing  that 
could  increase  their  gains ;  and,  finally,  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  Spanish  war,  fitted  out  several 
privateers,  which,  being  sent  to  cruise  near  the 
mouth  of  the  gulf  of  Florida,  captured  several  valu- 
able prizes.  Money  so  easily  got  was  as  lightly 
spent,  and  proved  indeed  ruinous  to  those  who 
shared  it ;  they  being  thus  led  to  indulge  in  expen- 
sive habits,  which  continued  after  the  means  that 
supplied  them  were  exhausted.  At  the  departure 
of  the  army,  trade  languished  among  these  new 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         157 

people ;  their  British  creditors  grew  clamorous ; 
the  primitive  inhabitants  looked  cold  upon  them  ; 
and  nothing  remained  for  them  but  that  self-banish- 
ment, which,  in  that  country,  was  the  usual  conse- 
quence of  extravagance  and  folly,  a  retreat  to  the 
woods.  Yet,  even  in  these  primeval  shades,  there 
was  no  repose  for  the  vain  and  the  turbulent.  It 
was  truly  amusing  to  see  those  cargoes  of  rusticated 
fine  ladies  and  gentlemen  going  to  their  new  abodes, 
all  lassitude  and  chagrin ;  and  very  soon  after,  to 
hear  of  their  attempts  at  finery,  consequence,  and 
preeminence,  in  the  late  invaded  residence  of  bears 
and  beavers.  There,  no  pastoral  tranquillity,  no 
sylvan  delights  awaited  them.  In  this  forced  re- 
treat to  the  woods  they  failed  not  to  carry  with 
them  those  household  gods  whom  they  had  wor- 
shiped in  town ;  the  pious  -flEneas  was  not  more 
careful  of  his  Penates,  nor  more  desirous  of  estab- 
lishing them  in  his  new  residence.  These  are  the 
persons  of  desperate  circumstances,  expensive  habits, 
and  ambitious  views  ;  who,  like  the  "  tempest-loving 
raven,"  delight  in  changes,  and  anticipate,  with 
guilty  joy,  the  overturn  of  states  in  which  they  have 
nothing  to  lose,  and  have  hopes  of  rising  on  the 
ruins  of  others.  The  lawyers,  too,  foresaw  that  the 
harvest  they  were  now  reaping  from  the  new  mode 
of  inquiry  into  disputed  titles,  could  not  be  of  long 
duration.  They  did  not  lay  a  regular  plan  for  the 
subversion  of  the  existing  order  of  things  ;  but  they 
infected  the  once  plain  and  primitive  conversation 


158  MEMOIRS     OF 

of  the  people  with  law  jargon,  which  spread  like  a 
disease,  and  was  the  more  fatal  to  elegance,  sim- 
plicity, and  candor,  as  there  were  no  rival  branches 
of  science,  the  cultivation  of  which  might  have 
divided  people's  attention  with  this  dry  contentious 
theme. 

The  spirit  of  litigation,  which  narrowed  and 
heated  every  mind,  was  a  great  nuisance  to  Ma- 
dame, who  took  care  not  to  be  much  troubled  with 
it  in  conversation,  because  she  discountenanced  it 
at  her  table,  where,  indeed,  no  petulant  upstarts 
were  received.  She  was,  however,  persecuted  with 
daily  references  to  her  recollections  with  regard  to 
the  traditionary  opinions  relative  to  boundaries,  etc. 
While  she  sought  refuge  in  the  peaceable  precincts 
of  the  gospel,  from  the  tumultuous  contests  of  the 
law,  which  she  always  spoke  of  with  dislike,  she  was 
little  aware  that  a  deserter  from  her  own  camp  was 
about  to  join  the  enemy.  Mr.  H.  our  chaplain, 
became,  about  this  time,  very  reserved  and  absent ; 
Jaw  and  politics  were  no  favorite  topics  in  our 
household,  and  these  alone  seemed  much  to  interest 
our  divine.  Many  thought  aunt  was  imposed  on 
by  this  young  man,  and  took  him  to  be  what  he 
was  not ;  but  this  was  by  no  means  the  case.  She 
neither  thought  him  a  wit,  a  scholar,  nor  a  saint; 
but  merely  a  young  man,  who,  to  very  good  inten- 
tions and  a  blameless  life,  added  the  advantages  of 
a  better  education  than  fell  to  the  lot  of  laymen 
there ;  simplicity  of  manners,  and  some  powers  of 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        159 

conversation,  with  a  little  dash  of  the  coxcomb,  ren- 
dered tolerable  by  great  good  nature. 

Vanity,  however,  was  the  rock  on  which  our 
chaplain  split ;  he  found  himself,  among  the  circle 
he  frequented,  the  one-eyed  king  in  the  kingdom 
of  the  blind  ;  and  thought  it  a  pity  such  talents 
should  be  lost  in  a  profession  where,  in  his  view  of 
the  subject,  bread  and  peace  were  all  that  was  to  be 
expected.  The  first  intelligence  I  heard  was,  that 
Mr.  H.  on  some  pretence  or  other,  often  went  to 
the  neighboring  town  of  Schenectady,  now  rising 
into  consequence,  and  there  openly  renounced  his 
profession,  and  took  out  a  license  as  a  practising 
lawyer.  It  is  easy  to  conjecture  how  Madame 
must  have  considered  this  wanton  renunciation  of 
the  service  of  the  altar  for  a  more  gainful  pursuit, 
aggravated  by  simulation  at  least ;  for  this  seeming 
open  and  artless  character  took  all  the  benefit  of 
her  hospitality,  and  continued  to  be  her  inmate  the 
whole  time  that  he  was  secretly  carrying  on  a  plan 
he  knew  she  would  reprobate.  She,  however, 
behaved  with  great  dignity  on  the  occasion ;  sup- 
posing, no  doubt,  that  the  obligations  she  had 
conferred  upon  him,  deprived  her  of  a  right  to 
reproach  or  reflect  upon  him.  She  was  never  after 
heard  to  mention  his  name ;  and  when  others  did, 
always  shifted  the  conversation. 

All  these  revolutions  in  manners  and  opinion 
helped  to  endear  me  to  aunt,  as  a  pupil  of  her  own 
school ;  while  my  tenacious  memory  enabled  me  to 


160  MEMOIRS    OF 

entertain  jier  with  the  wealth  of  others'  minds,  ren- 
dered more  amusing  by  the  simplicity  of  my  child- 
ish comments.  Had  I  been  capable  of  flattery,  or 
rather  had  I  been  so  deficient  in  natural  delicacy, 
as  to  say  what  I  really  thought  of  this  exalted  char- 
acter, the  awe  with  which  I  regarded  her  would  have 
deterred  me  from  such  presumption ;  but  as  I  really 
loved  and  honored  her,  as  virtue  personified,  and 
found  my  chief  happiness  in  her  society  and  con- 
versation, she  could  not  but  be  aware  of  this  silent 
adulation,  and  she  became  indeed  more  and  more 
desirous  of  having  me  with  her.  To  my  father, 
however,  I  was  now  become,  in  some  degree,  neces- 
sary, from  causes  somewhat  similar.  He,  too,  was 
sick  of  the  reigning  conversation  ;  and  being  ner- 
vous, and  rather  inclined  to  melancholy,  began  to 
see  things  in  the  darkest  light,  and  made  the  most 
of  a  rheumatism,  in  itself  bad  enough,  to  have  a 
pretext  for  indulging  the  chagrin  that  preyed  upon 
his  mind,  and  avoiding  his  Connecticut  persecutors, 
who  attacked  him  everywhere  but  in  bed.  A  fit  of 
chagrin  was  generally  succeeded  by  a  fit  of  home- 
sickness, and  that  by  a  paroxysm  of  devotion  ex- 
alted to  enthusiasm ;  during  which  all  worldly 
concerns  were  to  give  way  to  those  of  futurity. 
Thus  melancholy  and  thus  devout  I  found  my 
father ;  whose  pure  and  upright  spirit  was  corroded 
with  the  tricks  and  chicanery  he  was  forced  to  ob- 
serve in  his  new  associates,  with  whom  his  singular 
probity  and  simplicity  of  character  rendered  him 


AN    AMERICAN     LADY        161 

very  unfit  to  contend.  My  mother,  active,  cheer- 
ful, and  constantly  occupied  with  her  domestic 
affairs,  sought  pleasure  nowhere,  and  found  con- 
tent everywhere.  I  had  begun  to  taste  the  luxury 
of  intellectual  pleasures  with  a  very  keen  relish. 
Winter,  always  severe,  but  this  year  armed  with 
tenfold  vigor,  checked  my  researches  among  birds 
and  plants,  which  constituted  my  summer  delights ; 
and  poetry  was  all  that  remained  to  me.  While  I 
was,  "  in  some  diviner  mood,"  exulting  in  these 
scenes  of  inspiration,  opened  to  me  by  the  "  human- 
izing muse,"  the  terrible  decree  went  forth,  that  I 
was  to  read  no  more  "  idle  books  or  plays."  This 
decree  was  merely  the  momentary  result  of  a  fit  of 
sickness  and  dejection,  and  never  meant  to  be  seri- 
ously enforced.  It  produced,  however,  the  effect 
of  making  me  read  so  much  divinity,  that  I  fancied 
myself  got  quite  "  beyond  the  flaming  bounds  of 
space  and  time ; "  and  thought  I  could  never  relish 
light  reading  more.  In  this  solemn  mood,  my 
greatest  relaxation  was  a  visit  now  and  then  to 
aunt's  sister-in-law,  now  entirely  bedridden,  but 
still  possessing  great  powers  of  conversation,  which 
were  called  forth  by  the  flattering  attention  of  a 
child  to  one  whom  the  world  had  forsaken.  I 
loved  indeed  play,  strictly  such,  thoughtless,  child- 
ish play,  and  next  to  that,  calm  reflection  and  dis- 
cussion. The  world  was  too  busy  and  too  artful 
for  me ;  I  found  myself  most  at  home  with  those 
who  had  not  entered,  or  those  who  had  left  it. 

VOL.  II.  —  1 1 


162  MEMOIRS     OF 

My  father's  illness  was  much  aggravated  by  the 
conflict  which  began  to  arise  in  his  mind  regarding 
his  proposed  removal  to  his  lands,  which  were 
already  surrounded  by  a  new  population,  consist- 
ing of  these  fashionable  emigrants  from  the  gay 
world  at  New  York,  whom  I  have  been  describing, 
and  a  set  of  fierce  republicans,  if  anything  sneaking 
and  drawling  may  be  so  called,  whom  litigious  con- 
tention had  banished  from  their  native  province, 
and  who  seemed  let  loose,  like  Samson's  foxes,  to 
carry  mischief  and  conflagration  wherever  they  went. 
Among  this  motley  crew  there  was  no  regular  place 
of  worship,  nor  any  likely  prospect  that  there 
should,  for  their  religions  had  as  many  shades  of 
difference  as  the  leaves  of  autumn ;  and  every  man 
of  substance  who  arrived,  was  preacher  and  magis- 
trate to  his  own  little  colony.  To  hear  their  people 
talk,  one  would  think  time  had  run  back  to  the 
days  of  the  levellers.  The  settlers  from  New  York, 
however,  struggled  hard  for  superiority,  but  they 
were  not  equal  in  chicane  to  their  adversaries,  whose 
power  lay  in  their  cunning.  It  was  particularly 
hard  for  people  who  acknowledged  no  superior, 
who  had  a  thorough  knowledge  of  law  and  scrip- 
ture, ready  to  wrest  to  every  selfish  purpose,  it  was 
particularly  hard,  I  say,  for  such  all-sufficient  per- 
sonages to  hold  their  land  from  such  people  as  my 
father  and  others,  of  "  King  George's  red  coats," 
as  they  elegantly  styled  them.  But  they  were 
fertile  in  expedients.  From  the  original  establish- 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         163 

ment  of  these  provinces,  the  Connecticut  river  had 
been  accounted  the  boundary,  to  the  east,  of  the 
province  of  New  York,  dividing  it  from  the  adjoin- 
ing one ;  this  division  was  specified  in  old  patents, 
and  confirmed  by  analogy.  All  at  once,  however, 
our  new  tenants  at  will  made  a  discovery,  or  rather 
had  a  revelation,  purporting,  that  there  was  a  twenty 
mile  line,  as  they  called  it,  which  in  old  times  had 
been  carried  thus  far  beyond  the  Connecticut  river, 
into  the  bounds  of  what  had  ever  been  esteemed 
the  province  of  New  York.  It  had  become  ex- 
tremely fashionable  to  question  the  limits  of  indi- 
vidual property,  but  for  so  bold  a  stroke  at  a  whole 
province,  people  were  not  prepared.  The  conse- 
quence of  establishing  this  point  was,  that  thus  the 
grants  made  by  the  province  of  New  York,  of 
lands  not  their  own,  could  not  be  valid ;  and  thus 
the  property,  which  had  cost  the  owners  so  much 
to  establish  and  survey,  reverted  to  the  other 
province,  and  was  no  longer  theirs.  This  was  so 
far  beyond  all  imagination,  that  though  there  ap- 
peared not  the  smallest  likelihood  of  its  succeeding, 
as  the  plea  must  in  the  end  be  carried  to  Britain, 
people  stood  aghast,  and  saw  no  safety  in  living 
among  those  who  were  capable  of  making  such 
daring  strides  over  all  established  usage,  and  ready, 
on  all  occasions,  to  confederate  where  any  advantage 
'was  in  view,  though  ever  engaged  in  litigious  con- 
tentions with  each  other  in  their  original  home. 
This  astonishing  plea,  during  its  dependence,  *f- 


1 64  MEMOIRS    OF 

forded  these  dangerous  neighbors  a  pretext  to  con- 
tinue their  usurped  possession  till  it  should  be 
decided  to  which  province  the  lands  really  belonged. 
They  even  carried  their  insolence  so  far,  that  when 
a  particular  friend  of  my  father's,  a  worthy,  upright 
man,  named  Munro,1  who  possessed  a  large  tract 
of  land  adjoining  to  his  ;  when  this  good  man,  who 
had  established  a  settlement,  saw-mills,  etc.,  came 
to  fix  some  tenants  of  his  on  his  lands,  a  body  of 
these  incendiaries  came  out,  armed,  to  oppose  them, 
trusting  to  their  superior  numbers  and  the  peace- 
able disposition  of  our  friend.  Now,  the  fatal 
twenty  mile  line  ran  exactly  through  the  middle  of 
my  father's  property.  Had  not  the  revolution 
followed  so  soon,  there  was  no  doubt  of  this  claim 
being  rejected  in  Britain  ;  but  in  the  meantime  it 
served  as  a  pretext  for  daily  encroachment  and 
insolent  bravadoes.  Much  of  my  father's  disorder 
was  owing  to  the  great  conflict  of  his  mind.  To 
give  up  every  prospect  of  consequence  and  afflu- 

1  John  Munro,  who  for  several  years  was  very  troublesome  to  the 
New  Hampshire  settlers,  was  a  Scotchman,  a  New  York  justice  of  the 
peace,  and  resided  in  Shaftsbury,  within  a  few  rods  of  the  New  York 
line.  After  the  year  1772,  the  threats  of  the  Green  Mountain  boys 
appear  to  have  kept  him  quiet  ;  but  on  the  approach  of  Burgoyne  in 
1777  he  joined  the  British,  and  his  personal  property  in  Vermont  was 
confiscated.  He  had  been  the  agent  of  Duane,  and  from  a  desponding 
letter  which  he  wrote  to  the  latter  in  1786,  it  appears  that  he  was  on 
his  return  to  Canada  from  England,  where  he  had  been  prosecuting  his 
claims  on  the  British  government  for  his  services  and  losses  as  a  loy- 
alist, without  much  success,  and  was  returning  to  his  family,  penniless, 
and  friendless,  and  appealed  to  his  former  friend  and  employer,  for 
sympathy  and  aid.  See  "  Hiland  Hill's  Early  History  of  Vermont." 


AN     AMERICAN     LADY        165 

ence,  and  return  to  Britain,  leaving  his  property 
afloat  among  these  ungovernable  people  (to  say  no 
worse  of  them),  was  very  hard.  Yet  to  live  among 
them,  and  by  legal  coercion  force  his  due  out  of 
their  hands,  was  no  pleasing  prospect.  His  good 
angel,  it  would  seem  in  the  sequel,  whispered  to 
him  to  return.  Though,  in  human  prudence,  it 
appeared  a  fatal  measure  to  leave  so  valuable  a 
property  in  such  hands,  he  thought,  that  he  would 
stay  two  or  three  years;  and  then,  when  others 
had  vanquished  his  antagonists,  and  driven  them 
off  the  lands,  which  they,  in  the  meantime,  were 
busily  clearing,  he  should  return  with  a  host  of 
friends  and  kinsmen  and  form  a  chosen  society  of 
his  own.  He  however  waited  to  see  what  change 
for  the  better  another  twelvemonth  might  produce. 
Madame,  who  was  consulted  on  his  plans,  did  not 
greatly  relish  this;  he,  at  length,  half  promised 
to  leave  me  with  her,  till  he  should  return  from 
this  expedition. 

Returning  for  a  short  time  to  town  in  spring  I 
found  aunt's  house  much  enlivened  by  a  very  agree- 
able visitor;  this  was  Miss  W.,  daughter  to  the 
Honorable  Mr.  W.,  of  the  council.1  Her  elder 

1  Archibald  Kennedy,  captain  in  the  royal  navy,  married,  first, 
Catharine,  only  child  of  Col.  Peter  Schuyler  of  New  Jersey,  by  whom 
he  received  a  large  fortune  ;  and,  secondly,  Anne,  daughter  of  John 
Watts,  member  of  the  King's  Council.  The  mother  of  Miss  Watts 
was  a  Van  Cortlandt,  and  related  to  Aunt  Schuyler.  Kennedy  in  the 
Revolutionary  War  saved  his  large  estate,  returned  to  England,  and 
inherited  the  earldom  of  Cassilis.  The  sister  of  Anne  Watts  married 


i66  MEMOIRS    OF 

sister  was  afterwards  Countess  of  Cassilis,  and  she 
herself  was  long  afterwards  married  to  the  only 
native  of  the  continent,  I  believe,  who  ever  suc- 
ceeded to  the  title  of  baronet.  She  possessed  much 
beauty,  and  understanding,  and  vivacity.  Her 
playful  humor  exhilarated  the  whole  household. 
I  regarded  her  with  admiration  and  delight ;  and 
her  fanciful  excursions  afforded  great  amusement 
to  aunt,  and  were  like  a  gleam  of  sunshine  amidst 
the  gloom  occasioned  by  the  spirit  of  contention 
which  was  let  loose  among  all  manner  of  people. 

The  repeal  of  the  stamp  act  having  excited  new 
hopes,  my  father  found  all  his  expectations  of 
comfort  and  prosperity  renewed  by  this  temporary 
calm,  and  the  proposed  return  to  Britain  was  de- 
ferred for  another  year.  Aunt,  to  our  great  joy, 
as  we  scarce  hoped  she  would  again  make  so  distant 
a  visit,  came  out  to  the  Flats  with  her  fair  visitor, 
who  was  about  to  return  to  New  York.  This 
lady,  after  going  through  many  of  the  hardships  to 
which  persecuted  loyalists  were  afterwards  exposed, 
with  her  husband,  who  lost  an  immense  property 
in  the  service  of  government,  is  now  with  her 
family  settled  in  Upper  Canada,  where  Sir  J .  John- 
son has  obtained  a  large  grant  of  lands  as  a  partial 
retribution  for  his  great  losses  and  faithful  service. 

Aunt  again  requested  and  again  obtained  per- 
mission for  me  to  pass  some  time  with  her;  and 

John  Johnson,  who  on  the  death  of  his  father,  Sir  William  Johnson, 
Bart.,  succeeded  to  the  title.  Sir  John  died  in  Montreal  in  1830. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       167 

golden  dreams  of  felicity  at  Clarendon,  again  began 
to  possess  my  imagination.      I   returned  however 
soon  to  the  Flats,  where  my  presence  became  mo 
important,  as  my  father  became  less  eager  in  pursuit 
of  field  sports. 


Chapter  XXII 

MODE  OF  CONVEYING   TIMBER  IN  RAFTS  DOWN 
THE   RIVER 

I  BROUGHT  out  some  volumes  of  Shakespeare 
with  me,  and,  remembering  the  prohibition  of 
reading  plays  promulgated  the  former  winter,  was 
much  at  a  loss  how  to  proceed.  I  thought  rightly 
that  it  was  owing  to  a  temporary  fit  of  spleen. 
But  then  I  knew  my  father  was,  like  all  military 
men,  tenacious  of  his  authority,  and  would  possibly 
continue  it  merely  because  he  had  once  said  so. 
I  recollected  that  he  said  he  would  have  no  plays 
brought  to  the  house ;  and  that  I  read  them  un- 
checked at  Madame's,  who  was  my  model  in  all 
things.  It  so  happened  that  the  river  had  been 
higher  than  usual  that  spring,  and,  in  consequence, 
exhibited  a  succession  of  very  amusing  scenes. 
The  settlers,  whose  increase  above  towards  Still- 
water  had  been  for  three  years  past  incredibly  great, 
set  up  saw-mills  on  every  stream,  for  the  purpose 
of  turning  to  account  the  fine  timber  which  they 
cleared  in  great  quantities  off  the  new  lands.  The 
planks  they  drew  in  sledges  to  the  side  of  the  great 
river ;  and  when  the  season  arrived  that  swelled  the 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       169 

stream  to  its  greatest  height,  a  whole  neighborhood 
assembled,  and  made  their  joint  stock  into  a  large 
raft,  which  was  floated  down  the  river  with  a  man 
or  two  on  it,  who  with  long  poles  were  always  ready 
to  steer  it  clear  of  those  islands  or  shallows  which 
might  impede  its  course.  There  is  something 
serenely  majestic  in  the  easy  progress  of  those  large 
bodies  on  the  full  stream  of  this  copious  river. 
Sometimes  one  sees  a  whole  family  transported 
on  this  simple  conveyance ;  the  mother  calmly 
spinning,  the  children  sporting  about  her,  and  the 
father  fishing  on  one  end,  and  watching  its  safety 
i  at  the  same  time.  These  rafts  were  taken  down 
to  Albany,  and  put  on  board  vessels  there,  for  con- 
veyance to  New  York ;  sometimes,  however,  it 
happened  that,  as  they  proceeded  very  slowly,  dry 
weather  came  on  by  the  time  they  reached  the 
Flats,  and  it  became  impossible  to  carry  them 
further ;  in  that  case  they  were  deposited  in  great 
triangular  piles  opposite  our  door.  One  of  these, 
! which  was  larger  than  ordinary,  I  selected  for  a 
reading  closet.  There  I  safely  lodged  my  Shake- 
speare; and  there  in  my  play  hours  I  went  to 
read  it  undisturbed,  with  the  advantage  of  fresh 
air,  a  cool  shade,  and  a  full  view  of  the  road  on 
jone  side,  and  a  beautiful  river  on  the  other.  While 
I  enjoyed  undisturbed  privacy,  I  had  the  pro- 
hibition full  in  my  mind,  but  thought  I  should 
keep  to  the  spirit  of  it  by  only  reading  the  histori- 
cal plays,  comforting  myself  that  they  were  true. 


170  MEMOIRS    OF 


These  I  read  over  and  over  with  pleasure  ever 
new ;  it  was  quite  in  my  way,  for  I  was  familiarly 
acquainted  with  the  English  history ;  now,  indeed, 
I  began  to  relish  Shakespeare,  and  to  be  astonished 
at  my  former  blindness  to  his  beauties.  The  con- 
tention of  the  rival  roses  occupied  all  my  thoughts, 
and  broke  my  rest.  "  Wind-changing  Warwick  " 
did  not  change  oftener  than  I,  but  at  length  my 
compassion  for  holy  Henry,  and  hatred  to  Richard, 
fixed  me  a  Lancastrian.  I  began  to  wonder  how 
any  body  could  exist  without  reading  Shakespeare, 
and  at  length  resolved,  at  all  risks,  to  make  my 
father  a  sharer  in  my  new  found  felicity.  Of  the 
nature  of  taste  I  had  not  the  least  idea ;  so  far 
otherwise,  that  I  was  continually  revolving  benevo- 
lent plans  to  distribute  some  of  the  poetry  I  most 
delighted  in  among  the  Bezalees  and  Habakkuks, 
of  the  twenty  mile  line.  I  thought  this  would 
make  them  happy  as  myself,  and  that  when  they 
once  felt  the  charm  of  "  musical  delight,"  the  harsh 
language  of  contention  would  cease,  and  legal  quib- 
bling give  way  before  the  spirit  of  harmony.  How 
often  did  I  repeat  Thompson's  description  of  the 
golden  age,  concluding, 

"  For  music  held  the  whole  in  perfect  peace." 

At  home,  however,  I  was  in  some  degree  successful. 
My  father  did  begin  to  take  some  interest  in  the 
roses,  and  I  was  happy,  yet  kept  both  my  secret 
and  my  closet,  and  made  more  and  more  advances 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       171 

in  the  study  of  these  "  wood  notes  wild."  As  you 
like  it,  and  the  Midsummer  Night's  Dream  enchanted 
me;  and  I  thought  the  comfort  of  my  closet  so 
great,  that  I  dreaded  nothing  so  much  as  a  flood, 
that  should  occasion  its  being  once  more  set  in 
motion.  I  was  one  day  deeply  engaged  in  com- 
passionating Othello,  sitting  on  a  plank,  added  on 
the  outside  of  the  pile  for  strengthening  it,  when 
happening  to  lift  my  eyes,  I  saw  a  long  serpent 
on  the  same  board,  at  my  elbow,  in  a  threatening 
attitude,  with  its  head  lifted  up.  Othello  and  I 
ran  off  together  with  all  imaginable  speed;  and 
as  that  particular  kind  of  snake  seldom  approaches 
any  person,  unless  the  abode  of  its  young  is  invaded, 
I  began  to  fear  I  had  been  studying  Shakespeare 
in  a  nest  of  serpents.  Our  faithful  servant  exam- 
ined the  place  at  my  request.  Under  the  very 
board  on  which  I  sat,  when  terrified  by  this  un- 
wished associate,  was  found  a  nest  with  seven  eggs. 
After  being  most  thankful  for  my  escape,  the 
next  thing  was  to  admire  the  patience  and  good 
humor  of  the  mother  of  this  family,  who  permitted 
such  a  being  as  myself  so  long  to  share  her  haunt 
with  impunity.  Indeed,  the  rural  pleasures  of  this 
country  were  always  liable  to  those  drawbacks; 
and  this  place  was  peculiarly  infested  with  the 
familiar  garter-snake,  because  the  ruins  of  the 
burnt  house  afforded  shelter  and  safety  to  these 
;  reptiles. 


Chapter  XXIII 

THE  SWAMP— PATRICK   COONIE 

THIS  adventure  made  me  cautious  of  sitting 
out  of  doors,  yet  I  daily  braved  a  danger 
of  the  same  nature,  in  the  woods  behind  the  house, 
which  were  my  favorite  haunts,  and  where  I  fre- 
quently saw  snakes,  yet  was  never  pursued  or 
annoyed  by  them.  In  this  wood,  half  a  mile  from 
the  house,  was  a  swamp,  which  afforded  a  scene 
so  totally  unlike  any  thing  else,  that  a  description 
of  it  may  amuse  those  who  have  never  seen  nature 
in  that  primitive  state. 

This  swamp,  then,  was  in  the  midst  of  a  pine 
wood,  and  was  surrounded  on  two  sides  by  little 
hills,  some  of  which  were  covered  with  cedar,  and 
others  with  the  silver  fir,  very  picturesque,  and 
finely  varied  with  shrubs,  and  every  gradation  of 
green.  The  swamp  sunk  into  a  hollow,  like  a 
large  basin,  exactly  circular;  round  half  of  it,  was 
a  border  of  maple,  the  other  half  was  edged  with 
poplar.1  No  creature  ever  entered  this  place  in 

1  From  the  southern  border  of  this  swamp  issued  a  small  brook 
called  the  Vleykil,  which  emptied  into  the  Kramkil,  the  southern 
boundary  of  the  old  Schuyler  farm.  From  the  northern  boundary  of 
the  swamp  issued  another  Vleykil  which  emptied  into  a  creek  called 
the  Steenbrookkil  forming  the  northern  bounds  of  the  farm.  The 


AN     AMERICAN     LADY        173 

summer,  its  extreme  softness  kept  it  sacred  from 
every  human  foot,  for  no  one  could  go,  without 
the  risk  of  being  swallowed  up ;  different  aquatic 
plants  grew  with  great  luxuriance  in  this  quag- 
mire, particularly  bulrushes,  and  several  beautiful 
species  of  the  iris,  and  the  alder  and  willow ;  much 
of  it,  however,  was  open,  and  in  different  places  the 
water  seemed  to  form  stagnant  pools;  in  many 
places  large  trees  had  fallen  of  old,  which  were 
now  covered  with  moss,  and  afforded  a  home  to 
numberless  wild  animals.  In  the  midst  of  this 
aquatic  retreat,  were  two  small  islands  of  incon- 
ceivable beauty,  that  rose  high  above  the  rest, 
like  the  oasis  of  the  deserts,  and  were  dry  and  safe 
though  unapproachable.  On  one  of  these,  I  re- 
member, grew  three  apple  trees,  an  occurrence  not 
rare  here ;  for  a  squirrel,  for  instance,  happens 
to  drop  the  seeds  of  an  apple  in  a  spot  at  once 
sheltered  and  fertile ;  at  a  lucky  season,  they  grow 
and  bear,  though  with  less  vigor  and  beauty  than 
those  which  are  cultivated.  That  beautiful  fruit, 
the  wild  plum,  was  also  abundant  on  these  little 
sanctuaries,  as  they  might  be  called,  for,  conscious 
of  impunity,  every  creature  that  flies  the  pursuit 
of  man,  gambolled  in  safety  here,  and  would  allow 
one  to  gaze  at  them  from  the  brink  of  this  natural 
fortress.  One  would  think  a  congress  of  birds  and 
animals  had  assembled  here ;  never  was  a  spot 

ip  was  drained  long  since,  and  is  now  occupied  in  part  by  nurs- 
flower  gardens,  country  mansions,  and  a  railroad  track. 


174  MEMOIRS    OF 

more  animated  and  cheerful.  There  was  nothing 
like  it  in  the  great  forests ;  creatures  here,  aware 
of  their  general  enemy,  man,  had  chosen  it  as  their 
last  retreat.  The  black,  the  large  silver  grey,  the 
little  striped,  and  nimble  flying  squirrel,  were  all 
at  home  here,  and  all  visible  in  a  thousand  fantastic 
attitudes.  Pheasants  and  woodpeckers  in  countless 
numbers,  displayed  their  glowing  plumage,  and  the 
songsters  of  the  forest,  equally  conscious  of  their 
immunity,  made  the  marsh  resound  with  their 
blended  music,  while  the  fox,  here  a  small  auburn 
colored  creature,  the  martin,  and  racoons  occa- 
sionally appeared  and  vanished  through  the  foliage. 
Often,  on  pretence  of  bringing  home  the  cows  in 
the  morning  (when  in  their  own  leisurely  way  they 
were  coming  themselves),  I  used  to  go,  accompanied 
by  my  faithful  Marian,  to  admire  this  swamp,  at 
once  a  menagerie  and  aviary,  and  might  truly  say 
with  Burns, 

"  My  heart  rejoic'd  in  nature's  joys." 

Not  content,  however,  with  the  contemplation  of 
animated  nature,  I  began  to  entertain  a  fancy,  which 
almost  grew  into  a  passion,  for  explaining 

"  Every  herb  that  sips  the  dew." 

The  ordinary  plants  of  that  country  differ  very 
much  from  those  most  frequent  here  ;  and  this  thirst 
for  herbalizing,  for  I  must  dignify  my  humble 
researches  with  the  name  of  botanical  ones,  was  a 
pleasing  occupation.  I  made  some  progress  in  dis- 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       175 

covering  the  names  and  natures  of  these  plants,  I 
mean  their  properties ;  but  unfortunately  they  were 
only  Indian  or  Dutch  names.  This  kind  of  knowl- 
edge, in  that  degree,  is  easily  acquired  there,  because 
every  one  possesses  it  in  some  measure.  Nothing 
surprised  me  so  much,  when  I  came  to  Britain,  as  to 
see  young  people  so  incurious  about  nature. 

The  woods  behind  our  dwelling  had  been  thinned 
to  procure  firing,  and  were  more  open  and  accessible 
than  such  places  generally  are.  Walking  one  fine 
summer's  evening,  with  my  usual  attendant,  a  little 
further  into  the  wood  than  usual,  but  far  from  any 
known  inhabitant,  I  heard  peals  of  laughter,  not 
joyous  only,  but  triumphant,  issue  from  the  bottom, 
as  it  seemed,  of  a  large  pine.  Silence  succeeded,  and 
we  looked  at  each  other  with  a  mixture  of  fear  and 
wonder,  for  it  grew  darkish.  At  last  we  made  a 
whispered  agreement  to  glide  nearer  among  the 
bushes,  and  explore  the  source  of  all  this  merriment. 
Twilight,  solemn  everywhere,  is  awful  in  these 
forests ;  our  awe  was  presently  increased  by  the  ap- 
pearance of  a  light,  that  glimmered  and  disappeared 
by  turns.  Loud  laughter  was  again  reiterated,  and 
at  length  a  voice  cried,  "  How  pretty  he  is  !  "  while 
another  answered  in  softer  accents,  "  See  how  the 
dear  creature  runs  !  "  We  crept  on,  cheered  by 
these  sounds,  and  saw  a  handsome,  good-natured 
looking  man,  in  a  ragged  provincial  uniform,  sitting 
on  a  stump  of  a  tree.  Opposite,  on  the  ground,  sat 
a  pretty  little  brunette  woman,  neatly  though  meanly 


176  MEMOIRS    OF 

clad,  with  sparkling  black  eyes,  and  a  countenance 
all  vivacity  and  delight.  A  very  little,  very  fair 
boy,  with  his  mother's  brilliant  black  eyes  contrast- 
ing his  flaxen  hair  and  soft  infantine  complexion,  went 
with  tottering  steps,  that  showed  this  was  his  first 
essay,  from  one  to  the  other,  and  loud  laughter  grat- 
ulated  his  safe  arrival  in  the  arms  of  either  parent. 
We  had  now  pretty  clearly  ascertained  the  family, 
the  next  thing  was  to  discover  the  house ;  this  point 
was  more  difficult  to  establish ;  at  last,  we  found  it 
was  barely  a  place  to  sleep  in,  partly  excavated  from 
the  ground,  and  partly  covered  with  a  slight  roof 
of  bark  and  branches  :  never  was  poverty  so  com- 
plete or  so  cheerful.  In  that  country,  every  white 
person  had  inferiors,  and  therefore  being  merely 
white,  claimed  a  degree  of  respect,  and  being  very 
rich,  or  very  fine,  entitled  you  to  very  little  more. 
Simplicity  would  be  a  charming  thing,  if  one  could 
strain  it  from  grossness,  but  that,  I  believe  is  no 
easy  operation.  We  now,  with  much  consideration 
and  civility,  presented  ourselves ;  I  thought  the 
cows  would  afford  a  happy  opening  for  conversa- 
tion. "  Don't  be  afraid  of  noise,  we  are  driving  our 
three  cows  home  ;  have  you  any  cows  ? "  "  Och  no, 
my  dare  child,  not  one,  young  miss,"  said  the  sol- 
dier. "  O,  but  then  mamma  will  give  milk  to  the 
child,  for  we  have  plenty  and  no  child."  "O  dear 
pretty  miss,  don't  mind  that  at  all,  at  all."  "  Come," 
said  the  mistress  of  the  hovel,  "we  have  got  fine 
butter-milk  here,  from  Stephen's,  come  in  and  take 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        177 

a  drink."  I  civilly  declined  this  invitation,  being 
wholly  intent  on  the  child,  who  appeared  to  me  like 
a  smiling  love,  and  at  once  seized  on  my  affection. 
Patrick  Coonie,  for  such  was  the  name  of  our  new 
neighbor,  gave  us  his  history  in  a  very  few  words ; 
he  had  married  Kate  in  Pennsylvania,  who,  young 
as  she  looked,  had  three  children,  from  ten  to  four- 
teen, or  thereabouts ;  he  had  some  trade  which  had 
not  thriven,  he  listed  in  the  provincials,  spent  what 
he  had  on  his  family ;  hired  again,  served  another 
campaign,  came  down  penniless,  and  here  they  had 
come  for  a  temporary  shelter,  to  get  work  among 
their  neighbors;  the  excavation  existed  before, 
Patrick  happily  discovered  it,  and  added  the  ingeni- 
ous roof  which  now  covered  it.1  I  asked  for  their 
other  children;  they  were  in  some  mean  service.  I 
was  all  anxiety  for  Patrick :  so  was  not  he ;  the  lilies 
of  the  field  did  not  look  gayer,  or  more  thoughtless 
of  to-morrow,  and  Kate  seemed  equally  unconcerned. 
Hastily  were  the  cows  driven  home  that  night, 
and  to  prevent  reproaches  for  delay,  I  flew  to  com- 
municate my  discovery.  Eager  to  say  how  ill  off 
we  often  were  for  an  occasional  hand,  to  assist  with 
our  jobs,  and  how  well  we  could  spare  a  certain  ne- 
glected log-house  on  our  premises,  etc.  This  was 
treated  as  very  chimerical  at  first,  but  when  Patrick's 

1  Ifit  will  gratify  any  one's  curiosity  to  know  where  the  site  of  the 
humble  cot  of  Patrick  Coonie  was  located,  it  is  pointed  out  as  in  the 
I  now  populous  village  of  West  Troy,  and  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of 
the  residence  of  the  late  wealthy  manufacturer  James  Roy. 

VOL.  II.—  12 


178  MEMOIRS    OF 

family  had  undergone  a  survey,  and  Kate's  accom- 
plishments of  spinning,  etc.,  were  taken  into  consid- 
eration, to  my  unspeakable  joy,  the  family  were 
accommodated  as  I  wished,  and  their  several  talents 
made  known  to  our  neighbors,  who  kept  them  in 
constant  business.  Kate  spun  and  sung  like  a  lark, 
little  Paddy  was  mostly  with  us,  for  I  taught  every 
one  in  the  house  to  be  fond  of  him. 

I  was  at  the  utmost  loss  for  something  to  cherish 
and  caress,  when  this  most  amusing  creature,  who 
inherited  all  the  gaiety  and  good  temper  of  his 
parents,  came  in  my  way,  as  the  first  of  possible 
playthings.  Patrick  was,  of  all  beings,  the  most 
handy  and  obliging ;  he  could  do  everything,  but 
then  he  could  drink  too,  and  the  extreme  cheapness 
of  liquor  was  a  great  snare  to  poor  creatures  addicted 
to  it;  Patrick,  however,  had  long  lucid  intervals, 
and  I  had  the  joy  of  seeing  them  comparatively 
happy.  To  this  was  added,  that  of  seeing  my  father 
recover  his  spirits,  and  renew  his  usual  sports,  and 
moreover,  I  was  permitted  to  return  to  Aunt 
Schuyler's.  I  did  not  fail  to  entertain  her  with  the 
history  of  my  discovery,  and  its  consequences,  and 
my  tale  was  not  told  in  vain.  Aunt  weighed  and 
balanced  all  things  in  her  mind,  and  drew  some 
good  out  of  everything. 

White  servants,  whom  very  few  people  had,  were 
very  expensive  here ;  but  there  was  a  mode  of 
meliorating  things.  Poor  people  who  came  adven- 
turers from  other  countries,  and  found  a  settlement 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         179 

a  slower  process  than  they  were  aware  of,  had  got 
into  a  mode  of  apprenticing  their  children.  No 
risk  attended  this  in  Albany ;  custom  is  all-power- 
ful ;  and  lenity  to  servants  was  so  much  the  custom, 
that  to  ill-use  a  defenceless  creature  in  your  power 
was  reckoned  infamous,  and  was  indeed  unheard  of. 
Aunt  recommended  the  young  Coonies,  who  were 
fine  well-looking  children,  for  apprentices  to  some 
of  the  best  families  in  town,  where  they  were  well 
bred  and  well-treated,  and  we  all  contributed  decent 
clothing  for  them  to  go  home  in.  I  deeply  felt  this 
obligation,  and  little  thought  how  soon  I  was  to  be 
deprived  of  all  the  happiness  I  owed  to  the  friend- 
ship of  my  dear  benefactress.  This  accession  occu- 
pied and  pleased  me  exceedingly ;  my  attachment 
to  the  little  boy  grew  hourly,  and  I  indulged  it  to  a 
degree  I  certainly  would  not  have  done,  if  I  had  not 
set  him  down  for  one  of  the  future  inhabitants  of 
Clarendon ;  that  region  of  fancied  felicity,  where  I 
was  building  log-houses  in  the  air  perpetually,  and 
filling  them  with  an  imaginary  population,  innocent 
and  intelligent  beyond  comparison.  These  visions, 
however,  were  soon  destined  to  give  way  to  sad 
realities.  The  greatest  immediate  tribulation  I  was 
liable  to,  was  Patrick's  coming  home  now  and  then 
gay  beyond  his  wonted  gaiety ;  which  grieved  me 
both  on  Kate's  account  and  that  of  little  Paddy : 
but  in  the  fertile  plains  of  Clarendon,  remedies  were 
to  be  found  for  every  passing  evil ;  and  I  had  not 
the  least  doubt  of  having  influence  enough  to  pre- 


180  MEMOIRS 

vent  the  admission  of  spirituous  liquors  into  that 
"  region  of  calm  delights."  Such  were  the  dreams 
from  which  I  was  awakened  (on  returning  from  a 
long  visit  to  aunt)  by  my  father's  avowing  his  fixed 
intention  to  return  home. 

A  very  worthy  Argyleshire  friend  of  his,  in  the 
meantime,  came  and  paid  him  a  visit  of  a  month ; 
which  month  was  occupied  in  the  most  endearing 
recollections  of  Lochawside,  and  the  hills  of  Mor- 
ven.  When  I  returned,  I  heard  of  nothing  but  the 
Alpine  scenes  of  Scotland,  of  which  I  had  not  the 
smallest  recollection ;  but  which  I  loved  with  bor- 
rowed enthusiasm :  so  well  that  they  at  times  bal- 
anced with  Clarendon.  My  next  source  of  comfort 
was,  that  I  was  to  return  to  the  land  of  light  and 
freedom,  and  mingle,  as  I  flattered  myself  I  should, 
with  such  as  those  whom  I  had  admired  in  their 
immortal  works.  Determined  to  be  happy,  with 
the  sanguine  eagerness  of  youth,  the  very  oppo- 
site materials  served  for  constructing  another  ideal 
fabric. 


Chapter  XXIV 


MRS.    SCHUYLER'S  VIEW  OF  THE  CONTINENTAL 
POLITICS 

AUNT  was  extremely  sorry  when  the  final 
determination  was  announced.  She  had  now 
her  good  sister-in-law,  Mrs.  Wendell,  with  her,  and 
seemed  much  to  enjoy  the  society  of  that  meek, 
pious  woman,  who  was  as  happy  as  any  thing 
earthly  could  make  her.  As  to  public  affairs  their 
aspect  did  not  please  her;  and  therefore  she  en- 
deavored, as  far  as  possible,  to  withdraw  her  atten- 
tion from  them.  She  was  too  well  acquainted  with 
the  complicated  nature  of  human  affairs,  to  give  a 
rash  judgment  on  the  political  disputes  then  in  agi- 
tation. She  saw  indeed  reason  for  apprehension 
whatever  way  she  turned.  She  knew  the  prejudices 
and  self-opinion  fast  spreading  through  the  country 
too  well,  to  expect  quiet  submission,  and  could  see 
nothing  on  all  hands  but  a  choice  of  evils.  Were 
the  provinces  to  set  up  for  themselves,  she  thought 
they  had  not  cohesion  nor  subordination  enough 
among  them  to  form,  or  to  submit  to  any  salutary 
plan  of  government.  On  the  other  hand  she  saw 
no  good  effect  likely  to  result  from  a  reluctant 


182  MEMOIRS    OF 

dependence  on  a  distant  people,  whom  they  already 
began  to  hate,  though  hitherto  nursed  and  protected 
by  them.  She  clearly  foresaw  that  no  mode  of  tax- 
ation could  be  invented  to  which  they  would  easily 
submit ;  and  that  the  defence  of  the  continent  from 
enemies,  and  keeping  the  necessary  military  force  to 
protect  the  weak  and  awe  the  turbulent,  would  be  a 
perpetual  drain  of  men  and  money  to  Great  Britain, 
still  increasing  with  the  increased  population.  In 
short,  she  held  all  the  specious  plans  that  were 
talked  over  very  cheap ;  while  her  affection  for 
Britain  made  her  shudder  at  the  most  distant  idea 
of  a  separation ;  yet  not  as  supposing  such  a  step 
very  hurtful  to  this  country,  which  would  be  thus 
freed  of  a  very  costly  incumbrance.  But  the  dread 
of  future  anarchy,  the  horrors  of  civil  war,  and  the 
dereliction  of  principle  which  generally  results  from 
tumultuary  conflicts,  were  the  spectres  with  which 
she  was  haunted. 

Having  now  once  for  all  given  (to  the  best  of  my 
recollection)  a  faithful  sketch  of  aunt's  opinions  on 
this  intricate  subject,  I  shall  not  recur  to  them,  nor 
by  any  means  attempt  to  enter  into  any  detail  of 
the  dark  days  that  were  approaching.  First,  because 
I  feel  unspeakable  pain  in  looking  back  upon  occur- 
rences that  I  know  too  well,  though  I  was  not  there 
to  witness ;  in  which  the  friends  of  my  early  youth 
were  greatly  involved,  and  had  much  indeed  to  en- 
dure, on  both  sides.  Next,  because  there  is  little 
satisfaction  in  narrating  transactions  where  there  is 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        183 

no  room  to  praise  either  side.  That  waste  of  per- 
sonal courage  and  British  blood  and  treasure,  which 
were  squandered  to  no  purpose  on  one  side  in  that 
ill-conducted  war,  and  the  insolence  and  cruelty 
which  tarnished  the  triumph  of  the  other,  form  no 
pleasing  subject  of  retrospection :  while  the  unsuc- 
cessful and  often  unrewarded  loyalty  of  the  sufferers 
for  government,  cannot  be  recollected  without  the 
most  wounding  regret.  The  years  of  Madame, 
after  I  parted  with  her,  were  involved  in  a  cloud 
raised  by  the  conflicts  of  contending  arms,  which  I 
vainly  endeavored  to  penetrate.  My  account  of 
her  must  therefore,  in  a  great  measure,  terminate 
with  this  sad  year.  My  father  taking  in  spring 
decided  measures  for  leaving  America,  intrusted 
his  lands  to  the  care  of  his  friend  John  Munro, 
Esq.,  then  residing  near  Clarendon,  and  chief  magis- 
trate of  that  newly  peopled  district ;  a  very  worthy 

,  friend  and  countryman  of  his  own,  who  was  then  in 

;  high  triumph,  on  account  of  a  fancied  conquest  over 
the  supporters  of  the  twenty  mile  line ;  and  thought, 
when  that  point  was  fully  established,  there  would 
be  no  further  obstruction  to  their  realizing  their 
property  to  great  advantage,  or  colonizing  it  from 
Scotland,  if  such  should  be  their  wish.  Aunt  leaned 

;  hard  to  the  latter  expedient,  but  my  father  could 
not  think  of  leaving  me  behind  to  await  the  chance 

'  of  his  return ;  and  I  had  been  talked  into  a  wish  for 
revisiting  the  land  of  my  nativity. 

I  left  my  domestic  favorites  with  great  pain,  but 


i84  MEMOIRS 

took  care  to  introduce  them  to  aunt,  and  implored 
her,  with  all  the  pathos  I  was  mistress  of,  to  take 
an  interest  in  them  when  I  was  gone;  which  she 
very  good  naturedly  promised  to  do.  Another 
very  kind  thing  she  did.  Once  a  year  she  spent  a 
day  or  two  at  General  Schuyler's,  I  call  him  by  his 
later  acquired  title,  to  distinguish  him  from  the 
number  of  his  namesakes  I  have  had  occasion  to 
mention.  She  now  so  timed  her  visit  (though  in 
dreadful  weather)  that  I  might  accompany  her,  and 
take  my  last  farewell  of  my  young  companions 
there :  yet  I  could  not  bring  myself  to  think  it  a 
final  one.  The  terrible  words,  no  more,  never  passed 
my  lips.  I  had  too  buoyant  a  spirit  to  encounter  a 
voluntary  heart-ache  by  looking  on  the  dark  side 
of  anything,  and  always  figured  myself  returning, 
and  joyfully  received  by  the  friends  with  whom  I 
was  parting. 


Chapter   XXV 

DESCRIPTION   OF  THE  BREAKING   UP  OF  THE 
ICE  ON  HUDSON'S   RIVER 

SOON  after  this  I  witnessed,  for  the  last  time, 
the  sublime  spectacle  of  the  ice  breaking  up 
on  the  river;  an  object  that  fills  and  elevates  the 
mind  with  ideas  of  power,  and  grandeur,  and,  in- 
deed, magnificence  ;  before  which  all  the  triumphs 
of  human  art  sink  into  contemptuous  insignificance. 
This  noble  object  of  animated  greatness,  for  such 
it  seemed,  I  never  missed :  its  approach  being  an- 
nounced, like  a  loud  and  long  peal  of  thunder,  the 
whole  population  of  Albany  were  down  at  the  river 
side  in  a  moment ;  and  if  it  happened,  as  was  often 
the  case,  in  the  morning,  there  could  not  be  a  more 
grotesque  assemblage.  No  one  who  had  a  night- 
cap on  waited  to  put  it  off";  as  for  waiting  for  one's 
cloak,  or  gloves,  it  was  a  thing  out  of  the  question  ; 
you  caught  the  thing  next  you,  that  could  wrap 
round  you,  and  run.  In  the  way  you  saw  every 
door  left  open,  and  pails,  baskets,  etc.,  without 
number,  set  down  in  the  street.  It  was  a  perfect 
saturnalia.  People  never  dreamt  of  being  obeyed 
by  their  slaves,  till  the  ice  was  past.  The  houses 


186  MEMOIRS    OF 

were  left  quite  empty  :  the  meanest  slave,  the  young- 
est child,  all  were  to  be  found  on  the  shore.     Such 
as  could  walk,  ran  ;  and  they  that  could  not,  were 
carried  by  those  whose  duty  it  would  have  been  to 
stay  and  attend  them.     When  arrived  at  the  show 
•place^  unlike  the  audience  collected  to  witness  any 
spectacle  of  human  invention,  the  multitude  with 
their  eyes  all  bent  one  way,  stood  immovable,  and 
silent   as    death,  till    the   tumult   ceased,  and   the 
mighty  commotion  was  passed  by ;  then  every  one 
tried  to  give  vent  to  the  vast  conceptions  with  which 
his  mind  had  been   distended.     Every  child,  and 
every  negro,  was  sure  to  say,  "  Is  not  this  like  the 
day  of  judgment?"  and  what  they  said  every  one 
else  thought.     Now  to  describe  this  is  impossible ; 
but  I  mean  to  account,  in  some  degree,  for  it.     The 
ice,  which  had  been  all  winter  very  thick,  instead  of 
diminishing,  as  might  be  expected  in  spring,  still 
increased,    as    the    sunshine    came,    and   the    days 
lengthened.     Much  snow  fell  in  February ;  which, 
melted  by  the  heat  of  the  sun,  was  stagnant,  for  a 
day,  on  the  surface  of  the  ice ;  and  then  by  the 
night  frosts,  which  were  still  severe,  was  added,  as 
a  new  accession  to  the  thickness  of  it,   above  the 
former  surface.     This  was  so  often  repeated,  that 
in  some  years  the  ice  gained  two  feet  in  thickness, 
after  the  heat  of  the  sun  became  such,  as  one  would 
have  expected  should    have    entirely  dissolved  it. 
So  conscious  were  the   natives  of  the  safety  this 
accumulation  of  ice  afforded,  that  the  sledges  con- 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        187 

tinued  to  drive  on  the  ice,  when  the  trees  were 
budding,  and  everything  looked  like  spring;  nay, 
when  there  was  so  much  melted  on  the  surface  that 
the  horses  were  knee  deep  in  water,  while  travelling 
on  it ;  and  portentous  cracks,  on  every  side,  an- 
nounced the  approaching  rupture.  This  could 
scarce  have  been  produced  by  the  mere  influence 
of  the  sun,  till  midsummer.  It  was  the  swelling  of 
the  waters  under  the  ice,  increased  by  rivulets,  en- 
larged by  melted  snows,  that  produced  this  catas- 
trophe ;  for  such  the  awful  concussion  made  it 
appear.  The  prelude  to  the  general  bursting  of 
this  mighty  mass,  was  a  fracture,  lengthways,  in  the 
middle  of  the  stream,  produced  by  the  effort  of  the 
imprisoned  waters,  now  increased  too  much  to  be 
contained  within  their  wonted  bounds.  Conceive 
a  solid  mass,  from  six  to  eight  feet  thick,  bursting 
for  many  miles  in  one  continued  rupture,  produced 
by  a  force  inconceivably  great,  and,  in  a  manner, 
inexpressibly  sudden.  Thunder  is  no  adequate 
image  of  this  awful  explosion,  which  roused  all  the 
sleepers,  within  reach  of  the  sound,  as  completely 
as  the  final  convulsion  of  nature,  and  the  solemn 
peal  of  the  awakening  trumpet,  might  be  supposed 
i  to  do.  The  stream  in  summer  was  confined  by  a 
pebbly  strand,  overhung  with  high  and  steep  banks, 
crowned  with  lofty  trees,  which  were  considered  as 
a  sacred  barrier  against  the  encroachments  of  this 
annual  visitation.  Never  dryads  dwelt  in  more 
security  than  those  of  the  vine  clad  elms,  that  ex- 


i88  MEMOIRS    OF 

tended  their  ample  branches  over  this  mighty 
stream.  Their  tangled  nets  laid  bare  by  the  im- 
petuous torrents,  formed  caverns  ever  fresh  and 
fragrant ;  where  the  most  delicate  plants  flourished, 
unvisited  by  scorching  suns,  or  snipping  blasts ; 
and  nothing  could  be  more  singular  than  the  vari- 
ety of  plants  and  birds  that  were  sheltered  in  these 
intricate  safe  recesses.  But  when  the  bursting  of 
the  crystal  surface  set  loose  the  many  waters  that 
had  rushed  down,  swollen  with  the  annual  tribute 
of  dissolving  snow,  the  islands  and  low  lands  were 
all  flooded  in  an  instant ;  and  the  lofty  banks,  from 
which  you  were  wont  to  overlook  the  stream,  were 
now  entirely  filled  by  an  impetuous  torrent,  bearing 
down,  with  incredible  and  tumultuous  rage,  immense 
shoals  of  ice  ;  which,  breaking  every  instant  by  the 
concussion  of  others,  jammed  together  in  some 
places,  in  others  erecting  themselves  in  gigantic 
heights  for  an  instant  in  the  air,  and  seemed  to 
combat  with  their  fellow  giants  crowding  on  in  all 
directions,  and  falling  together  with  an  inconceiv- 
able crash,  formed  a  terrible  moving  picture,  ani- 
mated and  various  beyond  conception ;  for  it  was 
not  only  the  cerulean  ice,  whose  broken  edges  com- 
bating with  the  stream,  refracted  light  into  a  thou- 
sand rainbows,  that  charmed  your  attention,  lofty 
pines,  large  pieces  of  the  bank  torn  off  by  the  ice 
with  all  their  early  green  and  tender  foliage,  were 
drove  on  like  travelling  islands,  amid  this  battle  of 
breakers,  for  such  it  seemed.  I  am  absurdly  at- 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        189 

tempting  to  paint  a  scene,  under  which  the  powers 
of  language  sink.  Suffice  it,  that  this  year  its  so- 
lemnity was  increased  by  an  unusual  quantity  of 
snow,  which  the  last  hard  winter  had  accumulated, 
and  the  dissolution  of  which  now  threatened  an 
inundation. 

Solemn  indeed  it  was  to  me,  as  the  memento  of 
my  approaching  journey,  which  was  to  take  place 
whenever  the  ice  broke,  which  is  here  a  kind  of 
epoch.  The  parting  with  all  that  I  loved  at  the 
Flats  was  such  an  affliction,  as  it  is  even  yet  a  re- 
newal of  sorrows  to  recollect.  I  loved  the  very 
barn  and  the  swamp  I  have  described  so  much  that 
I  could  not  see  them  for  the  last  time  without  a 
pang.  As  for  the  island  and  the  bank  of  the  river, 
I  know  not  how  I  should  have  parted  with  them, 
if  I  had  thought  the  parting  final ;  the  good  kind 
neighbors,  and  my  faithful  and  most  affectionate 
Marian,  to  whom  of  all  others  this  separation  was 
most  wounding,  grieved  me  not  a  little.  I  was 
always  sanguine  in  the  extreme,  and  would  hope 
against  hope ;  but  Marian,  who  was  older,  and  had 
more  common  sense,  knew  too  well  how  little  like- 
lihood there  was  of  my  ever  returning.  Often  with 
streaming  eyes  and  bursting  sobs  she  begged  to 
know  if  the  soul  of  a  person  dying  in  America  could 
find  its  way  over  the  vast  ocean  to  join  that  of  those 
who  rose  to  the  abodes  of  future  bliss  from  Europe: 
her  hope  of  a  reunion  being  now  entirely  referred 
to  that  in  a  better  world.  There  was  no  truth  I 


i9o  MEMOIRS 

found  it  so  difficult  to  impress  upon  her  mind  as 
the  possibility  of  spirits  being  instantaneously  trans- 
ported from  one  distant  place  to  another  ;  a  doc- 
trine which  seemed  to  her  very  comfortable.  Her 
agony  at  the  final  parting  I  do  not  like  to  think  of. 
When  I  used  to  obtain  permission  to  pass  a  little 
time  in  town,  I  was  transported  with  the  thoughts 
of  the  enjoyments  that  awaited  me  in  the  society  of 
my  patroness,  and  the  young  friends  I  most  loved. 


Chapter  XXVI 


DEPARTURE    FROM    ALBANY  _  ORIGIN    OF 
THE   STATE  OF  VERMONT 

AFTER  quitting  the  Flats  we  were  to  stay  for 
some  days  at  Madame's,  till  we  should  make 
a  circular  visit,  and  take  leave.  Having  lulled  my 
disappointment  with  regard  to  Clarendon,1  and  filled 
all  my  dreams  with  images  of  Clydesdale  and 
Tweedale,  and  every  other  vale  or  dale  that  were 
the  haunts  of  the  pastoral  muse  in  Scotland,  I  grew 
pretty  well  reconciled  to  my  approaching  journey ; 
thinking  I  should  meet  piety  and  literature  in  every 
cottage,  and  poetry  and  music  in  every  recess, 
among  the  sublime  scenery  of  my  native  mountains. 

1  Duncan  Mac  Vicar  was  a  staff-officer  of  the  55th  Scotch  High- 
landers of  the  rank  of  lieutenant.  As  such  officer  he  was  entitled  to 
a, ooo  acres  of  land,  and  by  the  purchases  which  Mrs.  Grant  speaks  of, 
became  the  proprietor  of  4,000  more,  all  of  which  he  located  in  a 
body,  partly  in  the  town  of  Shaftsbury  and  partly  in  what  is  now 
White  Creek,  N.  Y.,  the  twenty-mile  line  running  exactly  through 
the  centre  of  it.  This  property  he  called  a  township,  and  gave  it  the 
name  of  Clarendon,  and  anticipated,  as  Mrs.  Grant  says,  great  enjoy- 
ment of  a  baronial  estate.  Becoming  disgusted  with  the  surroundings 
of  his  prpperty,  unable  to  obtain  a  suitable  tenantry,  and  alarmed  at 
the  spread  of  republicanism  and  disloyalty,  he  embarked  in  the  summer 
of  1770,  with  his  daughter,  then  about  fifteen  years  old,  for  his  native 
Scotland.  See  Hiland  "Hall's  History  of  Vermont,"  p.  80,  note. 
Mrs.  Annie  Laggan  Dewar,  a  member  of  Mrs.  Grant's  family,  writes 
from  Dunfermline,  Scotland,  under  date  of  20  Sept.,  1901:  "I  am 


192  MEMOIRS    OF 

At  any  rate,  I  was  sure  I  should  hear  the  larks  sing, 
and  see  the  early  primrose  deck  the  woods,  and 
daisies  enamel  the  meadows.  On  all  which  privi- 
leges I  had  been  taught  to  set  the  due  value,  yet  I 
wondered  very  much  how  it  was  that  I  could  enjoy 
nothing  with  such  gay  visions  opening  before  me ; 
my  heart,  I  supposed,  was  honester  than  my  imagi- 
nation, for  it  refused  to  take  pleasure  in  anything ; 
which  was  a  state  of  mind  so  new  to  me  that  I  could 
not  understand  it.  Everywhere  I  was  caressed,  and 
none  of  these  caresses  gave  me  pleasure  ;  at  length 
the  sad  day  came  that  I  was  to  take  the  last  farewell 
of  my  first  best  friend,  who  had  often  in  vain  urged 
my  parents  to  leave  me  till  they  should  decide  whether 
to  stay  or  return.  About  this  they  did  not  hesitate ; 
nor,  though  they  had,  could  I  have  divested  myself 
of  the  desire  now  waked  in  my  mind,  of  seeing  once 
more  my  native  land,  which  I  merely  loved  upon 
trust,  not  having  the  faintest  recollection  of  it. 

Madame  embraced  me  tenderly  with  many  tears, 
at  parting  ;  and  I  felt  a  kind  of  prelusive  anguish, 
as  if  I  had  anticipated  the  sorrows  that  awaited ; 
I  do  not  mean  now  the  painful  vicissitudes  of  after 
life,  but  merely  the  cruel  disappointment  that  I  felt 
in  finding  the  scenery  and  its  inhabitants  so  different 
from  the  Elysian  vales  and  Arcadian  swains,  that 
I  had  imagined. 

unable  to  tell  you  much  of  my  great-grandfather  Mac  Vicar  :  he  held 
a  commission  in  the  yyth  Fort  under  Col.  Archibald  Montgomerie, 
afterwards  Earl  of  Eglinton,  and  I  imagine  he  was  a  Captain.  Later  he 
was  transferred  to  the  55th  regiment,  and  retired  on  half  pay  in  1765." 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       193 

When  we  came  away,  by  an  odd  coincidence, 
aunt's  nephew  Peter  was  just  about  to  be  married 
to  a  very  fine  young  creature,  whom  his  relations 
did  not,  for  some  reason  that  I  do  not  remember, 
think  suitable;  while,  at  the  very  same  time,  her 
niece,  Miss  W.  had  captivated  the  son  of  a  rich 
but  avaricious  man,  who  would  not  consent  to  his 
marrying  her,  unless  aunt  gave  a  fortune  with  her ; 
which,  being  an  unusual  demand,  she  did  not  choose 
to  comply  with.  I  was  the  proud  and  happy  con- 
fidant of  both  these  lovers ;  and  before  we  left 
New  York  we  heard  that  each  had  married  without 
waiting  for  the  withheld  consent.  And  thus  for 
once  Madame  was  left  without  a  protegt,  but  still 
she  had  her  sister  W.  and  soon  acquired  a  new  set 
of  children,  the  orphan  sons  of  her  nephew  Cort- 
landt  Schuyler,  who  continued  under  her  care  for 
the  remainder  of  her  life.1 

My  voyage  down  the  river,  which  was  by  con- 
trary winds  protracted  to  a  whole  week,  would  have 
been  very  pleasant,  could  anything  have  pleased 
me.  I  was  at  least  soothed  by  the  extreme  beauty 
of  many  scenes  on  the  banks  of  this  fine  stream, 
which  I  was  fated  never  more  to  behold. 

Nothing  could  exceed  the  soft,  grateful  verdure 
that  met  the  eye  on  every  side  as  we  approached 
New  York :  it  was  in  the  beginning  of  May,  the 

1  Peter  Schuyler,  fourth  of  the  name,  married  his  cousin,  Gertrude 
Lansing,  and  Miss  W.  married  John  Johnson.  The  widow  and  chil- 
dren of  Cortlandt  Schuyler  until  they  returned  to  Ireland  lived  much 
of  the  time  in  the  house  with  Aunt  Schuyler  on  State  Street,  Albany. 

VOL.  ii.  — 13 


i94  MEMOIRS    OF 

great  orchards  which  rose  on  every  slope  were  all 
in  bloom,  and  the  woods  of  poplar  beyond  them 
had  their  sprouting  foliage  tinged  with  a  lighter 
shade  of  the  freshest  green.  Staten  Island  rose 
gradual  from  the  sea  in  which  it  seemed  to  float, 
and  was  so  covered  with  innumerable  fruit  trees  in 
full  blossom,  that  it  looked  like  some  enchanted 
forest.  I  shall  not  attempt  to  describe  a  place  so 
well  known  as  New  York,  but  merely  content  my- 
self with  saying  that  I  was  charmed  with  the  air 
of  easy  gaiety,  and  social  kindness,  that  seemed  to 
prevail  everywhere  among  the  people,  and  the 
cheerful,  animated  appearance  of  the  place  alto- 
gether. Here  I  fed  the  painful  longings  of  my 
mind,  which  already  began  to  turn  impatiently 
towards  Madame,  by  conversing  with  young  people 
whom  I  had  met  at  her  house,  on  their  summer 
excursions.  These  were  most  desirous  to  please 
and  amuse  me ;  and,  though  I  knew  little  of  good 
breeding,  1  had  good  nature  enough  to  try  to  seem 
pleased,  but,  in  fact,  I  enjoyed  nothing.  Though 
I  saw  there  was  much  to  enjoy  had  my  mind  been 
turned  as  usual  to  social  delight,  fatigued  with  the 
kindness  of  others  and  my  own  simulation,  I  tried 
to  forget  my  sorrows  in  sleep  ;  but  night,  that  was 
wont  to  bring  peace  and  silence  in  her  train,  had 
no  such  companions  here.  The  spirit  of  discord 
had  broke  loose.  The  fermentation  was  begun 
that  had  not  yet  ended.  And  at  midnight,  bands 
of  intoxicated  electors,  who  were  then  choosing  a 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       195 

member  for  the  assembly,  came  thundering  to  the 
doors,  demanding  a  vote  for  their  favored  candidate. 
An  hour  after  another  party  equally  vociferous,  and 
not  more  sober,  alarmed  us,  by  insisting  on  our 
giving  our  votes  for  their  favorite  competitor. 
This  was  mere  play ;  but  before  we  embarked, 
there  was  a  kind  of  prelusive  skirmish,  that  strongly 
marked  the  spirit  of  the  times.  These  new  patriots 
had  taken  it  in  their  heads  that  Lieut.  Gov.  Golden 
sent  home  intelligence  of  their  proceedings,  or  in 
some  other  way  betrayed  them,  as  they  thought, 
to  government.  In  one  of  these  fits  of  excess  and 
fury,  which  are  so  often  the  result  of  popular  elec- 
tions, they  went  to  his  house,  drew  out  his  coach, 
and  set  fire  to  it.  This  was  the  night  before  we 
embarked,  after  a  week's  stay  in  New  York. 

My  little  story  being  no  longer  blended  with  the 
memoirs  of  my  benefactress,  I  shall  not  trouble  the 
reader  with  the  account  of  our  melancholy  and 
perilous  voyage.  Here,  too,  with  regret  I  must 
close  the  account  of  what  I  knew  of  Aunt  Schuyler. 
I  heard  very  little  of  her  till  the  breaking  out  of 
that  disastrous  war,  which  every  one,  whatever  side 
they  may  have  taken  at  the  time,  must  look  back 
on  with  disgust  and  horror. 

To  tell  the  history  of  aunt  during  the  years  that 
';  her  life  was  prolonged  to  witness  scenes  abhorrent 
i  to  her  feelings,  and  her  principles,  would  be  a  pain- 
ful task  indeed ;  though  I  were  better  informed  than 
I  am,  or  wish  to  be,  of  the  transactions  of  those 


196  MEMOIRS    OF 

perturbed  times.  Of  her  private  history  I  only 
know,  that,  on  the  accidental  death,  formerly  men- 
tioned, of  her  nephew  Capt.  Cortlandt  Schuyler, 
she  took  home  his  two  eldest  sons,  and  kept  them 
with  her  till  her  own  death,  which  happened  28 
August,  1782.  I  know  too,  that  like  the  Roman 


A  Facsimile  of  Aunt  Schuyler's  Signature, 
from  her  Will. 

Atticus,  she  kept  free  from  the  violence  and  bigotry 
of  party,  and  like  him  too,  kindly  and  liberally 
assisted  those  of  each  side,  who,  as  the  tide  of  suc- 
cess ran  different  ways,  were  considered  as  unfor- 
tunate. On  this  subject  I  do  not  wish  to  enlarge, 
but  shall  merely  observe,  that  all  the  colonel's 
relations  were  on  the  republican  side,  while  every 
one  of  her  own  nephews  l  adhered  to  the  royal  cause, 
to  their  very  great  loss  and  detriment  ;  though 
some  of  them  have  now  found  a  home  in  Upper 
Canada,  where,  if  they  are  alienated  from  their 
native  province,  they  have  at  least  the  consolation 

1  When  the  war  of  independence  commenced  there  were  three, 
and  possibly  five,  nephews  of  her  deceased  husband,  Stephen,  Philip, 
and  Peter  Schuyler,  Peter  Lansing  and  Barent  Staats,  of  whom 
Philip  S.  was  a  colonel  in  the  State  line.  Madame'  s  nephews  were 
Philip  and  Stephen  Schuyler,  the  one  a  major-general,  the  other  a 
colonel  under  the  Congress  ;  Philip,  Abraham,  and  Cornelius  Cuyler, 
of  whom  Philip  was  loyal  to  his  country,  while  his  two  brothers  were 
royalists. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY         197 

of  meeting  many  other  deserving  people,  whom  the 
fury  of  party  had  driven  there  for  refuge.1 

Though  unwilling  to  obtrude  upon  my  reader 
any  further  particulars,  irrelevant  to  the  main  story 
I  have  endeavored  to  detail,  he  may  perhaps  be 
desirous  to  know  how  the  township  of  Clarendon 
was  at  length  disposed  of.  My  father's  friend, 
Captain  Munro,  was  engaged  for  himself  and  his 

1  Since  writing  the  above,  the  author  of  this  narrative  has  heard 
many  particulars  of  the  later  years  of  her  good  friend,  by  which  it  ap- 
pears, that  to  the  last  her  loyalty  and  public  spirit  burned  with  a 
clear  and  steady  flame.  She  was  by  that  time  too  venerable  as  well 
as  respectable  to  be  insulted  for  her  principles ;  and  her  opinions  were 
always  delivered  in  a  manner  firm  and  calm,  like  her  own  mind, 
which  was  too  well  regulated  to  admit  the  rancor  of  party,  and  too 
dignified  to  stoop  to  disguise  of  any  kind.  She  died  full  of  years,  and 
honored  by  all  who  could  or  could  not  appreciate  her  worth  5  for  not 
|  to  esteem  Aunt  Schuyler  was  to  forfeit  all  pretensions  to  estimation.  — 
Mrs.  Grant. 

The    American  Lady  survived   her  brothers  and  sister,  and  those 
1   of  her  deceased   husband  ;  indeed,    she  was  for  many  years  the  sole 
I   survivor  in  the   third    generation  of  Philip  (Pieterse)  Schuyler's  de- 
'•   scendants.       Her   estate,  derived    from  her  father,  from    her   brother 
Philip,  who  was  killed  by  the  French  at  Saratoga  in  1745,  and  from 
her  husband,  was  more  considerable  than  Mrs.  Grant  supposed.      By 
;  her  will,  dated  February  21,  1762,  she  gave  it  to  her  ten  nephews  and 
nieces,  children  of  her  brother  John  and  of  her  sister  Mrs.  Cuyler,  to 
i  each  one-tenth.     Her  affections  were  loyal  to  her  family,  and  she  did  not 
i  discriminate  because  of  political  differences.      She  had  leased  the  Flats 
to  a  nephew  of  her  late  husband,  a  son  of  Pedrom,  Stephen  Schuyler, 
I  who  rebuilt  the  house  on  the  foundations  of  the  one  destroyed  by  fire  ; 
and  it  was  while  on  a  visit  to  the  new-old  place,  she  died,  August  28, 
1782,  in  the  eighty-third    year  of  her  age.      She  was  buried  in  the 
private  cemetery  between  the  graves  of  her  husband  and  her  brother 
John.     It  is  greatly  to  be  regretted  that  Mrs.  Schuyler' s  last  resting- 
place  is  unmarked.      Vide  note  on  p.  9,  Vol.  II. 


198  MEMOIRS    OF 

military  friends,  in  a  litigation,  or  I  should  rather 
say,  the  provinces  of  New  York  and  Connecticut 
continued  to  dispute  the  right  to  the  boundary 
within  the  twenty  mile  line,  till  a  dispute  still  more 
serious  gave  spirit  to  the  new  settlers  from  Con- 
necticut, to  rise  in  arms,  and  expel  the  unfortunate 
loyalists  from  that  district,  which  was  bounded  on 
one  side  by  the  Green  mountains,  since  distinguished, 
like  Rome  in  its  infancy,  as  a  place  of  refuge  to 
all  the  lawless  and  uncontrollable  spirits  who  had 
banished  themselves  from  general  society. 

It  was  a  great  mortification  to  speculative  romance 
and  vanity,  for  me  to  consider  that  the  very  spot, 
which  I  had  been  used  fondly  to  contemplate  as  the 
future  abode  of  peace,  innocence,  and  all  the  social 
virtues,  that  this  very  spot  should  be  singled  out 
from  all  others,  as  a  refuge  for  the  vagabonds  and 
banditti  of  the  continent.  They  were,  however, 
distinguished  by  a  kind  of  desperate  bravery,  and 
unconquerable  obstinacy.  They,  at  one  time,  set 
the  states  and  the  mother  country  equally  at  defi- 
ance, and  set  up  for  an  independence  of  their  own ; 
on  this  occasion  they  were  so  troublesome,  and  the 
others  so  tame,  that  the  last  mentioned  were  fain  to 
purchase  their  nominal  submission  by  a  most  dis- 
graceful concession.  There  was  a  kind  of  provision 
made  for  all  the  British  subjects  who  possessed 
property  in  the  alienated  provinces,  provided  that 
they  had  not  borne  arms  against  the  Americans; 
these  were  permitted  to  sell  their  lands,  though  not 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        199 

for  their  full  value,  but  at  a  limited  price.  My 
father  came  precisely  under  this  description;  but 
the  Green  mountain  boys,  as  the  irregular  inhabit- 
ants of  the  disputed  boundaries  were  then  called, 
conscious  that  all  the  lands  they  had  forcibly 
usurped  were  liable  to  this  kind  of  claim,  set  up  the 
standard  of  independence.  They  indeed  positively 
refused  to  confederate  with  the  rest,  or  consent  to 
the  proposed  peace,  unless  the  robbery  they  had 
committed  should  be  sanctioned  by  a  law,  giving 
them  a  full  right  to  retain,  unquestioned,  this  vio- 
lent acquisition. 

It  is  doubtful,  of  three  parties,  who  were  most  to 
blame  on  this  occasion.  The  depredators,  who,  in 
defiance  of  even  natural  equity,  seized  and  erected 
this  little  petulant  state.  The  mean  concession  of 
the  other  provinces,  who,  after  permitting  this  one 
to  set  their  authority  at  defiance,  soothed  them  into 
submission  by  a  gift  of  what  was  not  theirs  to  be- 
stow ;  or  the  tame  acquiescence  of  the  then  ministry, 
in  an  arrangement  which  deprived  faithful  subjects, 
who  were  at  the  same  time  war-worn  veterans,  of 
the  reward  assigned  them  for  their  services. 

Proud  of  the  resemblance  which  their  origin  bore 
to  that  of  ancient  Rome,  they  latinized  the  common 
appellation  of  their  territory,  and  made  wholesome 
laws  for  its  regulation.  Thus  began  the  petty  state 
of  Vermont,  and  thus  ends  the  history  of  an  heiress. 


Chapter   XXVII 

PROSPERITY  OF  ALBANY- GENERAL  REFLECTIONS 

I  HOPE  my  readers  will  share  the  satisfaction  I 
feel,  in  contemplating,  at  this  distance,  the 
growing  prosperity  of  Albany,  which  is,  I  am  told, 
greatly  increased  in  size  and  consequence,  far  su- 
perior, indeed,  to  any  inland  town  on  the  continent, 
so  important  from  its  centrical  situation,  that  it  has 
been  proposed  as  the  seat  of  congress,  which,  should 
the  party  attached  to  Britain  ever  gain  the  ascend- 
ancy over  the  southern  states,  would  very  probably 
be  the  case ;  the  morality,  simple  manners,  and 
consistent  opinions  of  the  inhabitants,  still  bearing 
evident  traces  of  that  integrity  and  simplicity  which 
once  distinguished  them.  The  reflections  which 
must  result  from  the  knowledge  of  these  circum- 
stances are  so  obvious,  that  it  is  needless  to  point 
them  out. 

A  reader  that  has  patience  to  proceed  thus  far,  in 
a  narration  too  careless  and  desultory  for  the  grave, 
and  too  heavy  and  perplexed  for  the  gay,  too  minute 
for  the  busy,  and  too  serious  for  the  idle ;  such  a 
reader  must  have  been  led  on  by  an  interest  in  the 
virtues  of  the  leading  character,  and  will  be  suffi- 
ciently awake  to  their  remaining  effects. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        201 

Very  different,  however,  must  be  the  reflections 
that  arise  from  a  more  general  view  of  the  present 
state  of  our  ancient  colonies. 

«« O  for  that  warning  voice,  which  he  who  saw 
Th'  Apocalypse,  heard  cry,  That  a  voice,  like 
The  deep  and  dreadful  organ-pipe  of  Heaven," 

would  speak  terror  to  those  whose  delight  is  in 
change  and  agitation ;  to  those  who  wantonly  light 
up  the  torch  of  discord,  which  many  waters  will  not 
extinguish.  Even  when  peace  succeeds  to  the 
breathless  fury  of  such  a  contest,  it  comes  too  late 
to  restore  the  virtues,  the  hopes,  the  affections  that 
have  perished  in  it.  The  gangrene  of  the  land  is 
not  healed,  and  the  prophets  vainly  cry  peace ! 
peace  !  where  there  is  no  peace. 

However  upright  the  intentions  may  be  of  the 
first  leaders  of  popular  insurrection,  it  may  be  truly 
said  of  them,  in  the  end,  instruments  of  cruelty  are 
in  their  habitations :  nay,  must  be,  for  when  they 
have  proceeded  a  certain  length,  conciliation  or 
lenity  would  be  cruelty  to  their  followers,  who  are 
gone  too  far,  to  return  to  the  place  from  which  they 
set  out.  Rectitude,  hitherto  upheld  by  laws,  by 
custom,  and  by  fear,  now  walks  alone,  in  unaccus- 
tomed paths,  and  like  a  tottering  infant,  falls  at  the 
first  assault,  or  first  obstacle  it  meets  ;  but  falls  to 
rise  no  more.  Let  any  one  who  has  mixed  much 
with  mankind,  say,  what  would  be  the  consequence 
if  restraint  were  withdrawn,  and  impunity  offered  to 


202  MEMOIRS    OF 

all  whose  probity  is  not  fixed  on  the  basis  of  real 
piety,  or  supported  by  singular  fortitude,  and  that 
sound  sense  which,  discerning  remote  consequences, 
preserves  integrity  as  armor  of  proof  against  the 
worst  that  can  happen. 

True  it  is,  that  amidst  these  convulsions  of  the 
moral  world,  exigencies  bring  out  some  characters 
that  sweep  across  the  gloom  like  meteors  in  a 
tempestuous  night,  which  would  not  have  been  dis- 
tinguished in  the  sunshine  of  prosperity.  It  is  in 
the  swell  of  the  turbulent  ocean  that  the  mightiest 
living  handy-works  of  the  author  of  nature  are  to 
be  met  with.  Great  minds  no  doubt  are  called 
out  by  exigencies,  and  put  forth  all  their  powers. 
Though  Hercules  slew  the  Hydra  and  cleansed  the 
Augsean  stable,  all  but  poets  and  heroes  must  have 
regretted  that  any  such  monsters  existed.  Seriously 
beside  the  rancor,  the  treachery,  and  the  dereliction 
of  every  generous  sentiment  and  upright  motive, 
which  are  the  rank  production  of  the  blood  manured 
field  of  civil  discord,  after  the  froth  and  feculence 
of  its  cauldron  have  boiled  over,  still  the  deleterious 
dregs  remain.  Truth  is  the  first  victim  to  fear  and 
policy  ;  when  matters  arrive  at  that  crisis,  every  one 
finds  a  separate  interest ;  mutual  confidence,  which 
cannot  outlive  sincerity,  dies  next,  and  all  the  kin- 
dred virtues  drop  in  succession.  It  becomes  a 
man's  interest  that  his  brothers  and  his  father 
should  join  the  opposite  party,  that  some  may  be 
applauded  for  steadiness  or  enriched  by  confisca- 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       203 

tions ;  to  such  temptations  the  mind,  fermenting 
with  party  hatred,  yields  with  less  resistance  than 
could  be  imagined  by  those  who  have  never  wit- 
nessed such  scenes  of  horror  darkened  by  duplicity. 
After  so  deep  a  plunge  in  depravity,  how  difficult, 
how  near  to  impossible  is  a  return  to  the  paths  of 
rectitude !  This  is  but  a  single  instance  of  the 
manner  in  which  moral  feeling  is  undermined  in 
both  parties.  But  as  our  nature,  destined  to  suffer 
and  to  mourn,  and  to  have  the  heart  made  better 
by  affliction,  finds  adversity  a  less  dangerous  trial 
than  prosperity,  especially  where  it  is  great  and 
sudden,  in  all  civil  conflicts  the  triumphant  party 
may,  with  moral  truth,  be  said  to  be  the  greatest 
sufferers.  Intoxicated  as  they  often  are  with  power 
and  affluence,  purchased  with  the  blood  and  tears 
of  their  friends  and  countrymen,  the  hard  task 
remains  to  them  of  chaining  up  and  reducing  to 
submission  the  many  headed  monster,  whom  they 
have  been  forced  to  let  loose  and  gorge  with  the 
spoils  of  the  vanquished.  Then,  too,  comes  on  the 
difficulty  of  dividing  power  where  no  one  has  a 
right,  and  every  one  a  claim  ;  of  ruling  those  whom 
they  have  taught  to  despise  authority ;  and  of  re- 
viving that  sentiment  of  patriotism,  and  that  love 
of  glory ,  which  faction  and  self-interest  have  extin- 
guished. 

When  the  white  and  red  roses  were  the  symbols 
of  faction  in  England,  and  when  the  contest  between 
Baliol  and  Bruce  made  way  for  invasion  and  tyranny 


204  MEMOIRS    OF 

in  Scotland,  the  destruction  of  armies  and  of  cities, 
public  executions,  plunder  and  confiscations,  were 
the  least  evils  that  they  occasioned.     The  annihila- 
tion of  public  virtue  and  private  confidence ;  the  ex- 
asperation of  hereditary  hatred;  the  corrupting  the 
milk    of  human    kindness,  and   breaking   asunder 
every  sacred  tie  by  which  man  and  man  are  held  to- 
gether ;  all  these  dreadful  results  of  civil  discord  are 
the  means  of  visiting  the  sins  of  civil  war  on  the 
third    and   fourth   generation    of  those   who   have 
kindled  it.     Yet  the  extinction  of  charity  and  kind- 
ness in  dissensions  like  these,  is  not  to  be  compared 
to  that  which  is  the  consequence  of  an  entire  sub- 
version of  the  accustomed  form  of  government.    At- 
tachment to  a  monarch  or  line  of  royalty,  aims  only 
at  a  single  object,  and  is  at  worst  loyalty  and  fidelity 
misplaced ;  yet  war  once  begun  on  such  a  motive, 
loosens  the  bands  of  society,  and  opens  to  the  am- 
bitious and  the  rapacious   the  way  to  power  and 
plunder.     Still,  however,  the  laws,  the  customs,  and 
the   frame   of  government   stand   where  they  did. 
When   the  contest  is   decided,  and  the  successful 
competitor   established,   if  the   monarch    possesses 
ability  and  courts  popularity,  he,  or  at  any  rate  his 
immediate  successor,  may  rule  happily,  and  reconcile 
those  who  were  the  enemies,  not  of  his  place,  but 
of  his    person.     The   mighty  image   of  sovereign 
power  may  change  its  "  head  of  gold  "  for  one  of 
silver  ;  but  still  it  stands  firm  on  its  basis,  supported 
by  all  those  whom  it  protects.     But  when  thrown 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       205 

from  its  pedestal  by  an  entire  subversion  of  govern- 
ment, the  wreck  is  far  more  fatal  and  the  traces  in- 
delible. Those  who  on  each  side  support  the  heirs 
claiming  a  disputed  crown,  mean  equally  to  be  faith- 
ful and  loyal  to  their  rightful  sovereign;  and  are 
thus,  though  in  opposition  to  each  other,  actuated 
by  the  same  sentiment.  But  when  the  spirit  of  ex- 
termination walks  forth  over  prostrate  thrones  and 
altars,  ages  cannot  efface  the  traces  of  its  progress. 
A  contest  for  sovereignty  is  a  whirlwind,  that  rages 
fiercely  while  it  continues,  and  deforms  the  face 
of  external  nature.  New  houses,  however,  replace 
those  it  has  demolished ;  trees  grow  up  in  the  place 
of  those  destroyed ;  the  landscape  laughs,  the  birds 
sing,  and  everything  returns  to  its  accustomed 
course.  But  a  total  subversion  of  a  long  established 
government  is  like  an  earthquake,  that  not  only 
overturns  the  works  of  man,  but  changes  the  wonted 
course  and  operation  of  the  very  elements  ;  makes  a 
gulf  in  the  midst  of  a  fertile  plain,  casts  a  mountain 
into  a  lake,  and  in  fine  produces  such  devastation  as 
it  is  not  in  the  power  of  man  to  remedy.  Indeed  it 
is  too  obvious  that,  even  in  our  own  country,  that 
fire  which  produced  the  destruction  of  the  monarchy, 
still  glows  among  the  ashes  of  extinguished  factions; 
but  that  portion  of  the  community  who  carried  with 
them  across  the  Atlantic,  the  repugnance  to  submis- 
sion which  grew  out  of  an  indefinite  love  of  liberty, 
might  be  compared  to  the  Persian  Magi.  Like 
them,  when  forced  to  fly  from  their  native  country, 


206  MEMOIRS   OF 

they  carried  with  them  a  portion  of  the  hallowed 
fire,  which  continued  to  be  the  object  of  their  secret 
worship.  Those  who  look  upon  the  revolution,  of 
which  this  spirit  was  the  prime  mover,  as  tending  to 
advance  the  general  happiness,  no  doubt  consider 
these  opinions  as  a  rich  inheritance,  productive  of 
the  best  effects.  Many  wise  and  worthy  persons 
have  thought  and  still  continue  to  think  so.  There 
is  as  yet  no  room  for  decision,  the  experiment  not 
being  completed.  Their  mode  of  government, 
anomalous  and  hitherto  inefficient,  has  not  yet  ac- 
quired the  firmness  of  cohesion,  or  the  decisive  tone 
of  authority. 

The  birth  of  this  great  empire  is  a  phenomenon 
in  the  history  of  mankind.  There  is  nothing  like 
it  in  reality  or  fable,  but  the  birth  of  Minerva,  who 
proceeded  full  armed  and  full  grown  out  of  the  head 
of  the  thunderer.  Population,  arts,  sciences,  and 
laws,  extension  of  territory,  and  establishment  of 
power,  have  been  gradual  and  progressive  in  other 
countries,  where  the  current  of  dominion  went  on 
increasing  as  it  flowed,  by  conquests  or  other  acquisi- 
tions, which  it  swallowed  like  rivulets  in  its  course : 
but  here  it  burst  forth  like  a  torrent,  spreading  it- 
self at  once  into  an  expanse,  vast  as  their  own  supe- 
rior lake,  before  the  eyes  of  the  passive  generation 
which  witnessed  its  birth.  Yet  it  is  wonderful  how 
little  talent  or  intellectual  preeminence  of  any  kind 
has  appeared  in  this  new-born  world,  which  seems 
already  old  in  worldly  craft,  and  whose  children  are 


AN    AMERICAN   LADY        207 

indeed  "  wiser  in  their  generation  than  the  children 
of  light."  Self-interest,  eagerly  grasping  at  pecuni- 
ary advantages,  seems  to  be  the  ruling  principle  of 
this  great  continent. 

Love  of  country,  that  amiable  and  noble  senti- 
ment, which  by  turns  exalts  and  softens  the  human 
mind,  nourishes  enthusiasm,  and  inspires  alike  the 
hero  and  the  sage,  to  defend  and  adorn  the  sacred 
land  of  their  nativity,  is  a  principle  which  hardly 
exists  there.  An  American  loves  his  country,  or 
prefers  it  rather,  because  its  rivers  are  wide  and  deep, 
and  abound  in  fish ;  because  he  has  the  forests  to 
retire  to,  if  the  god  of  gainful  commerce  should 
prove  unpropitious  on  the  shore.  He  loves  it  be- 
cause if  his  negro  is  disrespectful,  or  disobedient,  he 
can  sell  him  and  buy  another ;  while  if  he  himself 
is  disobedient  to  the  laws  of  his  country,  or  dis- 
respectful to  the  magistracy  appointed  to  enforce 
them,  that  shadow  of  authority,  without  power  to 
do  good,  or  prevent  evil,  must  possess  its  soul  in 
patience. 

We  love  our  country  because  we  honor  our  an- 
cestors ;  because  it  is  endeared  to  us  not  only  by 
early  habit,  but  by  attachments  to  the  spots  hal- 
!  lowed  by  their  piety,  their  heroism,  their  genius,  or 
!  their  public  spirit.     We  honor  it  as  the  scene  of 
i  noble  deeds,  the  nurse  of  sages,  bards,  and  heroes. 
The  very  aspect  and  features  of  this  blest  asylum  of 
liberty,  science,  and  religion,  warm  our  hearts,  and 
animate  our  imaginations.     Enthusiasm  kindles  at 


208  MEMOIRS    OF 

the  thoughts  of  what  we  have  been,  and  what  we 
are.  It  is  the  last  retreat,  the  citadel,  in  which  all 
that  is  worth  living  for  is  concentrated.  Among  the 
other  ties  which  were  broken,  by  the  detachment  of 
America  from  us,  that  fine  ligament,  which  binds  us 
to  the  tombs  of  our  ancestors  (and  seems  to  convey 
to  us  the  spirit  and  the  affections  we  derive  from 
them),  was  dissolved :  with  it  perished  all  generous 
emulation.  Fame, 

"  That  spur  which  the  clear  mind  doth  raise 
To  live  laborious  nights  and  painful  days," 

has  no  votaries  among  the  students  of  Poor  Rich- 
ard's almanac,  the  great  Pharos  of  the  states.  The 
land  of  their  ancestors,  party  hostility  has  taught 
them  to  regard  with  scorn  and  hatred.  That  in 
which  they  live  calls  up  no  images  of  past  glory 
or  excellence.  Neither  hopeful  nor  desirous  of 
that  after-existence,  which  has  been  most  coveted 
by  those  who  do  things  worth  recording,  they  not 
only  live,  but  thrive;  and  that  is  quite  enough. 
A  man  no  longer  says  of  himself  with  exultation, 
"  I  belong  to  the  land  where  Milton  sung  the  song 
of  seraphims,  and  Newton  traced  the  paths  of  light; 
where  Alfred  established  his  throne  in  wisdom,  and 
where  the  palms  and  laurels  of  renown  shade  the 
tombs  of  the  mighty  and  the  excellent."  Thus 
dissevered  from  recollections  so  dear,  and  so  en- 
nobling, what  ties  are  substituted  in  their  places? 
Can  he  regard  with  tender  and  reverential  feelings, 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       209 

a  land  that  has  not  only  been  deprived  of  its  best 
ornaments,  but  become  a  receptacle  of  the  outcasts 
of  society  from  every  nation  in  Europe  ?  Is  there 
a  person  whose  dubious  or  turbulent  character  has 
made  him  unwelcome  or  suspected  in  society,  he 
goes  to  America,  where  he  knows  no  one,  and 
is  of  no  one  known  ;  and  where  he  can  with  safety 
assume  any  character.  All  that  tremble  with  the 
consciousness  of  undetected  crimes,  or  smart  from 
the  consequence  of  unchecked  follies  ;  fraudulent 
bankrupts,  unsuccessful  adventurers,  restless  pro- 
jectors, or  seditious  agitators,  this  great  Limbus 
Patrum  has  room  for  them  ail ;  and  to  it  they 
fly  in  the  day  of  their  calamity.  With  such  a 
heterogeneous  mixture  a  transplanted  Briton  of  the 
original  stock,  a  true  old  American,  may  live  in 
charity,  but  can  never  assimilate.  Who  can,  with 
the  cordiality  due  to  that  sacred  appellation,  "  my 
country,"  apply  it  to  that  land  of  Hivites  and 
Girgashites,  where  one  cannot  travel  ten  miles, 
in  a  stretch,  without  meeting  detachments  of  dif- 
ferent nations,  torn  from  their  native  soil  and  first 
affections,  and  living  aliens  in  a  strange  land,  where 
no  one  seems  to  form  part  of  an  attached,  connected 
whole. 

To  those  enlarged  minds,  who  have  got  far 
beyond  the  petty  consideration  of  country  and 
kindred,  to  embrace  the  whole  human  race,  a  land, 
whose  population  is  like  Joseph's  coat,  of  many 
colors,  must  be  a  peculiarly  suitable  abode.  For 

VOL.  II.  —  14 


2IO 


MEMOIRS 


in  the  endless  variety  of  the  patchwork,  of  which 
society  is  composed,  a  liberal  philosophic  mind 
might  meet  with  the  specimens  of  all  those  tongues 
and  nations  which  he  comprehends  in  the  wide 
circle  of  his  enlarged  philanthropy. 


Chapter  XXVIII 

FURTHER    REFLECTIONS  — GENERAL    HAMILTON 

THAT  some  of  the  leaders  of  the  hostile  party 
in  America  acted  upon  liberal  and  patriotic 
views  can  not  be  doubted.  There  were  many, 
indeed,  of  whom  the  public  good  was  the  leading 
principle ;  and  to  these  the  cause  was  a  noble  one : 
yet  even  these  little  foresaw  the  result.  Had  they 
known  what  a  cold,  selfish  character,  what  a  dere- 
liction of  religious  principle,  what  furious  factions, 
and  wild  unsettled  notions  of  government,  were  to 
be  the  consequences  of  this  utter  alienation  from 
the  parent  state,  they  would  have  shrunk  back 
from  the  prospect.  Those  fine  minds  who,  nur- 
tured in  the  love  of  science  and  of  elegance,  looked 
back  to  the  land  of  their  forefathers  for  models 
of  excellence,  and  drank  inspiration  from  the  pro- 
duction of  the  British  muse,  could  not  but  feel 
this  rapture  as  "  a  wrench  from  all  we  love,  from 
all  we  are."  They,  too,  might  wish,  when  time 
had  ripened  their  growing  empire,  to  assert  that 
independence  which,  when  mature  in  strength  and 
knowledge,  we  claim  even  of  the  parents  we  love 
and  honor.  But  to  snatch  it  with  a  rude  and 
bloody  grasp,  outraged  the  feelings  of  those  gentler 


212  MEMOIRS   OF 

children  of  the  common  parent.  Mildness  of  man- 
ners, refinement  of  mind,  and  all  the  softer  virtues 
that  spring  up  in  the  cultivated  paths  of  social  life, 
nurtured  by  generous  affections,  were  undoubtedly 
to  be  found  on  the  side  of  the  unhappy  loyalists ; 
whatever  superiority  in  vigor  and  intrepidity  might 
be  claimed  by  their  persecutors.  Certainly,  how- 
ever necessary  the  ruling  powers  might  find  it  to 
carry  their  system  of  exile  into  execution,  it  has 
occasioned  to  the  country  an  irreparable  privation. 

When  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantz  gave 
the  scattering  blow  to  the  protestants  of  France, 
they  carried  with  them  their  arts,  their  frugal 
regular  habits,  and  that  portable  mine  of  wealth 
which  is  the  portion  of  patient  industry.  The 
chasm  produced  in  France  by  the  departure  of  so 
much  humble  virtue,  and  so  many  useful  arts,  has 
never  been  filled. 

What  the  loss  of  the  Huguenots  was  to  commerce 
and  manufactures  in  France,  that  of  the  loyalists 
was  to  religion,  literature,  and  amenity ',  in  America. 
The  silken  threads  were  drawn  out  of  the  mixed 
web  of  society,  which  has  ever  since  been  compara- 
tively coarse  and  homely.  The  dawning  light  of 
elegant  science  was  quenched  in  universal  dulness. 
No  ray  has  broken  through  the  general  gloom  ex- 
cept the  phosphoric  lightnings  of  her  cold  blooded 
philosopher,  the  deistical  Franklin,  the  legitimate 
father  of  the  American  "age  of  calculation."  So 
well  have  "  the  children  of  his  soul "  profited  by 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        213 

the  frugal  lessons  of  this  apostle  of  Plutus,  that 
we  see  a  new  empire  blest  in  its  infancy  with  all 
the  saving  virtues  which  are  the  usual  portion  of 
cautious  and  feeble  age ;  and  we  behold  it  with 
the  same  complacent  surprise  which  fills  our  minds 
at  the  sight  of  a  young  miser. 

Forgive  me,  shade  of  the  accomplished  Hamilton1 
while  all  that  is  lovely  in  virtue,  all  that  is  honor- 
able in  valor,  and  all  that  is  admirable  in  talent, 
conspire  to  lament  the  early  setting  of  that  western 
star ;  and  to  deck  the  tomb  of  worth  and  genius 
with  wreaths  of  immortal  bloom : 

"  Thee  Columbia  long  shall  weep  ; 
Ne'er  again  thy  kindness  see;" 

fain  would  I  add, 

"  Long  her  strains  in  sorrows  steep, 
Strains  of  immortality." —  Gray. 

but  alas ! 

«« They  have  no  poet,  and  they  die."  —  Pope. 

His  character  was  a  bright  exception ;  yet,  after 
all,  an  exception  that  only  confirms  the  rule. 
What  must  be  the  state  of  that  country  where 
worth,  talent,  and  the  disinterested  exercise  of  every 
faculty  of  a  vigorous  and  exalted  mind,  were  in  vain 
devoted  to  the  public  good  ?  Where,  indeed,  they 

1  General  Alexander  Hamilton,  killed  in  a  duel,  into  which  he  was 
forced  by  Col.  Aaron  Burr,  Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  at 
New  York,  in  1804.  —  Mrs.  Grant, 


2i4  MEMOIRS    OF 

only  marked  out  their  possessor  for  a  victim  to  the 
shrine  of  faction  ?  Alas !  that  a  compliance  with 
the  laws  of  false  honor  (the  only  blemish  of  a 
stainless  life),  should  be  so  dearly  expiated  !  Yet 
the  deep  sense  expressed  by  all  parties  of  this 
general  loss,  seems  to  promise  a  happier  day  at 
some  future  period,  when  this  chaos  of  jarring 
elements  shall  be  reduced  by  some  pervading  and 
governing  mind  into  a  settled  form. 

But  much  must  be  done,  and  suffered,  before 
this  change  can  take  place.  There  never  can  be 
much  improvement  till  there  is  union  and  subor- 
dination ;  till  those  strong  local  attachments  are 
formed,  which  are  the  basis  of  patriotism,  and  the 
bonds  of  social  attachment.  But,  while  such  a 
wide  field  is  open  to  the  spirit  of  adventure ;  and, 
while  the  facility  of  removal  encourages  that  restless 
and  ungovernable  spirit,  there  is  little  hope  of  any 
material  change.  There  is  in  America  a  double 
principle  of  fermentation,  which  continues  to  im- 
pede the  growth  of  the  arts  and  sciences,  and  of 
those  gentler  virtues  of  social  life,  which  were 
blasted  by  the  breath  of  popular  fury.  On  the 
sea-side  there  is  a  perpetual  importation  of  lawless 
and  restless  persons,  who  have  no  other  path  to 
the  notoriety  they  covet,  but  that  which  leads 
through  party  violence  ;  and  of  want  of  that  local 
attachment,  I  have  been  speaking  of,  there  can 
be  no  stronger  proof,  than  the  passion  for  emigra- 
tion so  frequent  in  America. 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        215 

Among  those  who  are  neither  beloved  in  the 
vicinity  of  their  place  of  abode,  nor  kept  stationary 
by  any  gainful  pursuit,  it  is  incredible  how  light  a 
matter  will  afford  a  pretext  for  removal ! 

Here  is  one  great  motive,  for  good  conduct  and 
decorous  manners,  obliterated.  The  good  opinion 
of  his  neighbors  is  of  little  consequence  to  him,  who 
can  scarce  be  said  to  have  any.  If  a  man  keeps 
free  of  those  crimes  which  a  regard  to  the  public 
safety  compels  the  magistrate  to  punish,  he  finds 
shelter  in  every  forest  from  the  scorn  and  dislike 
incurred  by  petty  trespasses  on  society.  There,  all 
who  are  unwilling  to  submit  to  the  restraints  of  law 
and  religion,  may  live  unchallenged,  at  a  distance 
from  the  public  exercise  of  either.  There  all  whom 
want  has  made  desperate,  whether  it  be  the  want  of 
abilities,  of  character,  or  the  means  to  live,  are  sure 
to  take  shelter.  This  habit  of  removing  furnishes, 
however,  a  palliation  for  some  evils,  for  the  facility 
with  which  they  change  residence  becomes  the 
means  of  ridding  the  community  of  members  too 
turbulent  or  too  indolent  to  be  quiet  or  useful.  It 
is  a  kind  of  voluntary  exile,  where  those  whom 
government  want  power  and  efficiency  to  banish, 
very  obligingly  banish  themselves  ;  thus  preventing 
the  explosions  which  might  be  occasioned  by  their 
continuing  mingled  in  the  general  mass. 

It  is  owing  to  this  salutary  discharge  of  peccant 

I  humors  that  matters  go  on  so  quietly  as  they  do, 

under  a  government  which   is   neither  feared  nor 


ai6  MEMOIRS    OF 

loved,  by  the  community  it  rules.  These  removals 
are  incredibly  frequent ;  for  the  same  family,  flying 
as  it  were  before  the  face  of  legal  authority  and  civ- 
ilization, are  often  known  to  remove  farther  and 
farther  back  into  the  woods,  every  fifth  or  sixth 
year,  as  the  population  begins  to  draw  nearer.  By 
this  secession  from  society,  a  partial  reformation  is 
in  some  cases  effected.  A  person  incapable  of  reg- 
ular industry  and  compliance  with  its  established 
customs  will  certainly  do  least  harm,  when  forced  to 
depend  on  his  personal  exertions.  When  a  man 
places  himself  in  the  situation  of  Robinson  Crusoe, 
with  the  difference  of  a  wife  and  children  for  that 
solitary  hero's  cats  and  parrots,  he  must  of  necessity 
make  exertions  like  his,  or  perish.  He  becomes 
not  a  regular  husbandman,  but  a  hunter,  with 
whom  agriculture  is  but  a  secondary  consideration. 
His  Indian  corn  and  potatoes,  which  constitute  the 
main  part  of  his  crop,  are,  in  due  time,  hoed  by  his 
wife  and  daughters ;  while  the  axe  and  the  gun  are 
the  only  implements  he  willingly  handles. 

Fraud  and  avarice  are  the  vices  of  society,  and 
do  not  thrive  in  the  shade  of  the  forests.  The 
hunter,  like  the  sailor,  has  little  thought  of  covet- 
ing or  amassing.  He  does  not  forge,  nor  cheat, 
nor  steal,  as  such  an  unprincipled  person  must  have 
done  in  the  world,  where,  instead  of  wild  beasts,  he 
must  have  preyed  upon  his  fellows,  and  he  does 
not  drink  much,  because  liquor  is  not  attainable. 
But  he  becomes  coarse,  savage,  and  totally  negligent 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       217 

of  all  the  forms  and  decencies  of  life.  He  grows 
wild  and  unsocial.  To  him  a  neighbor  is  an  en- 
croacher.  He  has  learnt  to  do  without  one;  and 
he  knows  not  how  to  yield  to  him  in  any  point  of 
mutual  accommodation.  He  cares  neither  to  give 
or  take  assistance,  and  finds  all  the  society  he  wants 
in  his  own  family.  Selfish,  from  the  over-indulged 
love  of  ease  and  liberty,  he  sees  in  a  new  comer 
merely  an  abridgement  of  his  range,  and  an  inter- 
loper in  that  sport  on  which  he  would  much  rather 
depend  for  subsistence  than  on  the  habits  of  regular 
industry.  What  can  more  flatter  an  imagination 
warm  with  native  benevolence,  and  animated  by 
romantic  enthusiasm,  than  the  image  of  insulated 
self-dependant  families,  growing  up  in  those  prime- 
val retreats,  remote  from  the  corruptions  of  the 
world,  and  dwelling  amidst  the  prodigality  of  na- 
ture. Nothing  however  can  be  more  anti-Arcadian. 
There  no  crook  is  seen,  no  pipe  is  heard,  no  lamb 
bleats,  for  the  best  possible  reason,  because  there 
are  no  sheep.  No  pastoral  strains  awake  the  sleep- 
ing echoes,  doomed  to  sleep  on  till  the  bull-frog, 
the  wolf,  and  the  quackawary  l  begin  their  nightly 
concert.  Seriously,  it  is  not  a  place  that  can,  in 
any  instance,  constitute  happiness.  When  listless 
indolence  or  lawless  turbulence  fly  to  shades  the 
most  tranquil,  or  scenes  the  most  beautiful,  they 
degrade  nature  instead  of  improving  or  enjoying 

1  Quackawary  is  the  Indian  name  of  a  bird,  which  flies  about  in  the 
night,  making  a  noise  similar  to  the  sound  of  its  name.  —  Mrs.  Grant. 


218  MEMOIRS 

her  charms.  Active  diligence,  a  sense  of  our  duty 
to  the  source  of  all  good,  and  kindly  affections 
towards  our  fellow-creatures,  with  a  degree  of  self- 
command  and  mental  improvement,  can  alone  pro- 
duce the  gentle  manners  that  ensure  rural  peace, 
or  enable  us,  with  intelligence  and  gratitude,  to 
"  rejoice  in  nature's  joys." 


Chapter  XXIX 

SKETCH   OF  THE   SETTLEMENT   OF 
PENNSYLVANIA 

FAIN  would  I  turn  from  this  gloomy  and  un- 
certain prospect,  so  disappointing  to  philan- 
thropy, and  so  subversive  of  all  the  flattering  hopes 
and  sanguine  predictions  of  the  poets  and  philoso- 
phers, who  were  wont  to  look  forward  to  a  new 
Atlantis, 

«'  Famed  for  arts  and  laws  derived  from  Jove." 

in  this  western  world.  But  I  cannot  quit  the  fond 
retrospect  of  what  once  was  in  one  favored  spot, 
without  indulging  a  distant  hope  of  what  may 
emerge  from  this  dark,  disordered  state. 

The  melancholy  Cowley,  the  ingenius  bishop  of 
Cloyne,  and  many  others,  alike  eminent  for  virtue 
and  for  genius,  looked  forward  to  this  region  of 
liberty  as  a  soil,  where  peace,  science,  and  religion 
could  have  room  to  take  root  and  flourish  un- 
molested. In  those  primeval  solitudes,  enriched 
by  the  choicest  bounties  of  nature,  they  might  (as 
these  benevolent  speculators  thought)  extend  their 
shelter  to  tribes  no  longer  savage,  rejoicing  in  the 
light  of  evangelic  truth,  and  exalting  science.  Little 


220  MEMOIRS    OF 

did  these  amiable  projectors  know  how  much  is  to 
be  done  before  the  human  mind,  debased  by  habit- 
ual vice,  and  cramped  by  artificial  manners  in  the 
old  world,  can  wash  out  its  stains  and  resume  its 
simplicity  in  a  new ;  nor  did  they  know  through 
how  many  gradual  stages  of  culture  the  untutored 
intellect  of  savage  tribes  must  pass  before  they  be- 
come capable  of  comprehending  those  truths  which 
to  us  habit  has  rendered  obvious,  or  which  at  any 
rate  we  have  talked  of  so  familiarly,  that  we  think 
we  comprehend  them.  These  projectors  of  felicity 
were  not  so  ignorant  of  human  nature,  as  to  expect 
change  of  place  could  produce  an  instantaneous 
change  of  character ;  but  they  hoped  to  realize  an 
Utopia,  where  justice  should  be  administered  on 
the  purest  principles  ;  from  which  venality  should 
be  banished,  and  where  mankind  should,  through 
the  paths  of  truth  and  uprightness,  arrive  at  the 
highest  attainable  happiness  in  a  state  not  meant 
for  perfection.  They  "  talked  the  style  of  gods," 
making  very  little  account  of  "chance  and  suffer- 
ance." Their  speculations  of  the  result  remind  me 
of  what  is  recorded  in  some  ancient  writer,  of  a 
project  for  building  a  magnificent  temple  to  Diana 
in  some  one  of  the  Grecian  states.  A  reward  was 
offered  to  him  who  should  erect,  at  the  public  cost, 
with  most  taste  and  ingenuity,  a  structure  which 
should  do  honor  both  to  the  goddess  and  her  wor- 
shippers. Several  candidates  appeared.  The  first 
that  spoke  was  a  self-satisfied  young  man,  who,  in 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       221 

a  long  florid  harangue,  described  the  pillars,  the 
porticoes,  and  the  proportions  of  this  intended 
building,  seeming  all  the  while  more  intent  on  the 
display  of  his  elocution,  than  on  the  subject  of  his 
discourse.  When  he  had  finished,  a  plain,  elderly 
man  came  from  behind  him,  and  leaning  forwards, 
said  in  a  deep  hollow  voice,  "  All  that  he  has  said 
I  will  do." 

William  Penn  was  the  man,  born  to  give  "  a  local 
habitation  and  a  name,"  to  all  that  had  hitherto  only 
floated  in  the  day  dreams  of  poets  and  philosophers. 

To  qualify  him  for  the  legislator  of  a  new  born 
sect,  with  all  the  innocence  and  all  the  helplessness 
of  infancy,  many  circumstances  concurred,  that 
could  scarce  ever  be  supposed  to  happen  at  once 
to  the  same  person  ;  born  to  fortune  and  distinc- 
tion, with  a  mind  powerful  and  cultivated,  he  knew, 
experimentally,  all  the  advantages  to  be  derived 
from  wealth  or  knowledge,  and  could  not  be  said 
ignorantly  to  despise  them.  He  had,  in  his  early 
days,  walked  far  enough  into  the  paths  of  folly  and 
dissipation,  to  know  human  character  in  all  its  va- 
rieties, and  to  say  experimentally  —  all  is  vanity. 
With  a  vigorous  mind,  an  ardent  imagination,  and 
a  heart  glowing  with  the  warmest  benevolence,  he 
appears  to  have  been  driven,  by  a  repulsive  abhor- 
rence of  the  abuse  of  knowledge,  of  pleasure,  and 
preeminence,  which  he  had  witnessed,  into  the  op- 
posite extreme ;  into  a  sect,  the  very  first  principles 
of  which,  clip  the  wings  of  fancy,  extinguish  am- 


222  MEMOIRS    OF 

bition,  and  bring  every  struggle  for  superiority,  the 
result  of  uncommon  powers  of  mind,  down  to  the 
dead  level  of  tame  equality  ;  a  fact,  that  reminds 
one  of  the  exclusion  of  poets  from  Plato's  fancied 
republic,  by  stripping  off  all  the  many-colored  garbs 
with  which  learning  and  imagination  have  invested 
the  forms  of  ideal  excellence,  and  reducing  them  to 
a  few  simple  realities,  arrayed  as  soberly  as  their 
votaries. 

This  sect,  which  brings  mankind  to  a  resemblance 
of  Thomson's  Laplanders, 

"  Who  little  pleasure  know,  and  feel  no  pain," 

might  be  supposed  the  last  to  captivate,  nay,  to 
absorb,  such  a  mind  as  I  have  been  describing. 
Yet  so  it  was  :  even  in  the  midst  of  all  this  cold 
humility,  dominion  was  to  be  found.  That  rule, 
which  of  all  others,  is  most  gratifying  to  a  mind 
conscious  of  its  own  power,  and  directing  it  to  the 
purposes  of  benevolence,  the  voluntary  subjection  of 
mind,  the  homage  which  a  sect  pays  to  its  leader, 
is  justly  accounted  the  most  gratifying  species  of 
power;  and  to  this  lurking  ambition  everything 
is  rendered  subservient  by  those,  who  have  once 
known  this  native  and  inherent  superiority.  This 
man,  who  had  wasted  his  inheritance,  alienated  his 
relations,  and  estranged  his  friends,  who  had  for- 
saken the  religion  of  his  ancestors,  and  in  a  great 
measure  the  customs  of  his  country,  whom  some 
charged  with  folly,  and  others  with  madness,  was, 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       223 

nevertheless,  destined  to  plan  with  consummate 
wisdom,  and  execute  with  indefatigable  activity  and 
immovable  firmness,  a  scheme  of  government,  such 
as  has  been  the  wish,  at  least,  of  every  enlarged  and 
benevolent  mind  (from  Plato,  downwards),  which 
has  indulged  speculations  of  the  kind.  The  glory 
of  realizing,  in  some  degree,  all  these  fair  visions 
was,  however,  reserved  for  William  Penn  alone. 

Imagination  delights  to  dwell  on  the  tranquil 
abodes  of  plenty,  content,  and  equanimity,  that  so 
quickly  "  rose  like  an  exhalation,"  in  the  domains 
of  this  pacific  legislator.  That  he  should  expect  to 
protect  the  quiet  abodes  of  his  peaceful  and  indus- 
trious followers,  merely  with  a  fence  of  olive  (as  one 
may  call  his  gentle  institutions),  is  wonderful ;  and 
the  more  so,  when  we  consider  him  to  have  lived 
in  the  world,  and  known  too  well,  by  his  own  ex- 
perience, of  what  discordant  elements  it  is  com- 
posed. A  mind  so  powerful  and  comprehensive 
as  his,  could  not  but  know,  that  the  wealth  which 
quiet  and  blameless  industry  insensibly  accumu- 
lates, proves  merely  a  lure  to  attract  the  armed 
spoiler  to  the  defenceless  dwellings  of  those,  who 
do  not  think  it  a  duty  to  protect  themselves. 

"But  when  divine  ambition  swell'd  his  mind, 
Ambition  truly  great,  of  virtue's  deeds," 

he  could  no  otherwise  execute  his  plan  of  utility, 
than  by  the  agency  of  a  people  who  were  bound 
together  by  a  principle,  at  once  adhesive  and  ex- 


224  -       MEMOIRSOF 

elusive,  and  who  were  too  calm  and  self-subdued,  too 
benignant  and  just  to  create  enemies  to  themselves 
among  their  neighbors.  There  could  be  no  motive 
but  the  thirst  of  rapine,  for  disturbing  a  community 
so  inoffensive ;  and  the  founder,  no  doubt,  flattered 
himself  that  the  parent  country  would  not  fail  to  ex- 
tend to  them  that  protection,  which  their  useful  lives 
and  helpless  state  both  needed  and  deserved. ' 

Never,  surely,  were  institutions  better  calculated 
for  nursing  the  infancy  of  a  sylvan  colony,  from 
which  the  noisy  pleasures,  and  more  bustling  va- 
rieties of  life,  were  necessarily  excluded.  The 
serene  and  dispassionate  state,  to  which  it  seems 
the  chief  aim  of  this  sect  to  bring  the  human  mind, 
is  precisely  what  is  requisite  to  reconcile  it  to  the 
privations  that  must  be  encountered,  during  the 
early  stages  of  the  progression  of  society,  which, 
necessarily  excluded  from  the  pleasures  of  refinement, 
should  be  guarded  from  its  pains. 

Where  nations,  in  the  course  of  time  become 
civilized,  the  process  is  so  gradual  from  one  race 
to  another,  that  no  violent  effort  is  required  to 
break  through  settled  habits,  and  acquire  new 
tastes  and  inclinations,  fitted  to  what  might  be 
almost  styled  a  new  mode  of  existence.  But  when 
colonies  are  first  settled,  in  a  country  so  entirely 
primitive  as  that  to  which  William  Penn  led  his 
followers,  there  is  a  kind  of  retrograde  movement 
of  the  mind,  requisite  to  reconcile  people  to  the 
new  duties  and  new  views  that  open  to  them,  and 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       225 

to    make    the    total    privation    of  wonted   objects, 
modes,  and  amusements,  tolerable. 

Perfect  simplicity  of  taste  and  manners,  and  en- 
tire indifference  to  much  of  what  the  world  calls 
pleasure,  were  necessary  to  make  life  tolerable  to 
the  first  settlers  in  a  trackless  wilderness.  These 
habits  of  thinking  and  living,  so  difficult  to  acquire, 
and  so  painful  when  forced  upon  the  mind  by  in- 
evitable necessity,  the  Quakers  brought  with  them, 
and  left,  without  regret,  a  world  from  which  they 
were  already  excluded  by  that  austere  simplicity 
which  peculiarly  fitted  them  for  their  new  situation. 
A  kindred  simplicity,  and  a  similar  ignorance  of 
artificial  refinements  and  high  seasoned  pleasures, 
produced  the  same  effect  in  qualifying  the  first  set- 
tlers at  Albany  to  support  the  privations,  and  en- 
dure the  inconveniences  of  their  noviciate  in  the 
forests  of  the  new  world.  But  to  return  to  William 
Penn ;  the  fair  fabric  he  had  erected,  though  it 
speedily  fulfilled  the  utmost  promise  of  hope,  con- 
tained within  itself  the  principle  of  dissolution,  and, 
from  the  very  nature  of  the  beings  which  composed 
it,  must  have  decayed,  though  the  revolutionary 
shock  had  not  so  soon  shaken  its  foundations. 
Sobriety  and  prudence  lead  naturally  to  wealth, 
and  wealth  to  authority,  which  soon  strikes  at  the 
root  of  the  short  lived  principle  of  equality.  A 
single  instance  may  occur  here  and  there,  but  who 
can  ever  suppose  nature  running  so  contrary  to  her 
bias  that  all  the  opulent  members  of  a  community 

VOL.  II.  —  15 


226  MEMOIRS    OF 

i 

should  acquire  or  inherit  wealth  for  the  mere  pur- 
pose of  giving  it  away  ?  Where  there  are  no  ele- 
gant arts  to  be  encouraged,  no  elegant  pleasures  to 
be  procured,  where  ingenuity  is  not  to  be  rewarded, 
or  talent  admired  or  exercised,  what  is  wealth  but  a 
cumbrous  load,  sinking  the  owner  deeper  and  deeper 
into  grossness  and  dullness,  having  no  incitement 
to  exercise  the  only  faculties  permitted  him  to  use, 
and  few  objects  to  relieve  in  a  community  from 
which  vice  and  poverty  are  equally  excluded  by 
their  industry,  and  their  wholesome  rule  of  expul- 
sion. We  all  know  that  there  is  not  in  society  a 
more  useless  and  disgusting  character  than  what  is 
formed  by  the  possession  of  great  wealth  without 
elegance  or  refinement,  without,  indeed,  that  liber- 
ality which  can  only  result  from  a  certain  degree  of 
cultivation.  What  then  would  a  community  be, 
entirely  formed  of  such  persons,  or,  supposing  such 
a  community  to  exist,  how  long  would  they  adhere 
to  the  simple  manners  of  their  founder,  with  such  a 
source  of  corruption  mingled  with  their  very  exist- 
ence ?  Detachment  from  pleasure  and  from  vanity, 
frugal  and  simple  habits,  and  a  habitual  close  adher- 
ence to  some  particular  trade  or  employment,  are 
circumstances  that  have  a  sure  tendency  to  enrich  the 
individuals  who  practise  them.  This  in  the  end  is 
"  to  give  humility  a  coach  and  six,"  that  is,  to 
destroy  the  very  principle  of  adhesion  which  binds 
and  continues  the  sect. 

Highly  estimable  as  a  sect,  these  people  were  re- 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       227 

spectable  and  amiable  in  their  collective  capacity  as 
a  colony.  But  then  it  was  an  institution  so  con- 
structed, that,  without  a  miracle,  its  virtues  must 
have  expired  with  its  minority.  I  do  not  here  speak 
of  the  necessity  of  its  being  governed  and  protected 
by  those  of  different  opinions,  but  merely  of  wealth 
stagnating  without  its  proper  application.  Of  this 
humane  community  it  is  but  just  to  say,  that  they 
were  the  only  Europeans  in  the  new  world  who  al- 
ways treated  the  Indians  with  probity  like  their  own, 
and  with  kindness  calculated  to  do  honor  to  the  faith 
they  professed.  I  speak  of  them  now  in  their  col- 
lective capacity.  They  too  are  the  only  people 
that,  in  a  temperate,  judicious  (and,  I  trust,  success- 
ful), manner,  have  endeavored,  and  still  endeavor  to 
convert  the  Indians  to  Christianity ;  for  them  too 
was  reserved  the  honorable  distinction  of  being  the 
only  body  who  sacrificed  interest  to  humanity,  by 
voluntarily  giving  freedom  to  those  slaves  whom 
they  held  in  easy  bondage.  That  a  government  so 
constituted  could  not,  in  the  nature  of  things,  long 
exist,  is  to  be  regretted ;  that  it  produced  so  much 
good  to  others  and  so  much  comfort  and  prosperity 
to  its  subjects  while  it  did  exist,  is  an  honorable  tes- 
timony of  the  worth  and  wisdom  of  its  benevolent 
founder. 


Chapter  XXX 

PROSPECTS   BRIGHTENING   IN   AMERICA 

HOWEVER  discouraging  the  prospect  of  so- 
ciety on  this  great  continent  may  at  present 
appear,  there  is  every  reason  to  hope  time,  and  the 
ordinary  course  of  events,  may  bring  about  a  desir- 
able change ;  but  in  the  present  state  of  things,  no 
government  seems  less  calculated  to  promote  the 
happiness  of  its  subjects,  or  to  ensure  permanence 
to  itself,  than  that  feeble  and  unstable  system  which 
is  only  calculated  for  a  community  comprising  more 
virtue,  and  more  union  than  such  a  heterogeneous 
mixture  can  be  supposed  to  have  attained.  States, 
like  individuals,  purchase  wisdom  by  suffering,  and 
they  have  probably  much  to  endure  before  they 
assume  a  fixed,  determined  form. 

Without  partiality  it  may  be  safely  averred,  that 
notwithstanding  the   severity   of  the  climate,  and 
other  unfavorable  circumstances,  the  provinces  of 
British    America   are    the   abode    of  more  prese 
safety  and  happiness,  and  contain  situations  mor 
favorable  to  future  establishments,  than  any  withii 
the  limits  of  the  United  States. 

To  state  all  the  grounds  upon  which  this  opinic 
is  founded,  might  lead  me  into  discussions,  nai 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY        229 

tives,  and  description  which  might  swell  into  a 
volume,  more  interesting  than  the  preceding  one. 
But  being  at  present  neither  able  or  inclined  to  do 
justice  to  the  subject,  I  shall  only  briefly  observe 
first,  with  regard  to  the  government,  it  is  one  to 
which  the  governed  are  fondly  attached,  and  which 
like  religion  becomes  endeared  to  its  votaries,  by  the 
sufferings  they  have  endured  for  their  adherence  to 
it.  It  is  consonant  to  their  earliest  prejudices,  and 
sanctioned  by  hereditary  attachment.  The  climate 
is  indeed  severe,  but  it  is  steady  and  regular,  the 
skies  in  the  interior  are  clear,  the  air  pure.  The 
summer,  with  all  the  heat  of  warm  climates  to  cher- 
ish the  productions  of  the  earth,  is  not  subject  to 
the  drought  that  in  such  climates  scorches  and  de- 
stroys them.  Abundant  woods  furnish  shelter  and 
fuel,  to  mitigate  the  severity  of  winter;  and  streams 
rapid  and  copious  flow  in  all  directions  to  refresh 
the  plants  and  cool  the  air,  during  their  short  but 
ardent  summer. 

The  country,  barren,  at  the  sea-side,  does  not 
afford  an  inducement  for  those  extensive  settlements 
which  have  a  tendency  to  become  merely  commer- 
cial from  their  situation.  It  becomes  more  fertile 
as  it  recedes  further  from  the  sea.  Thus  holding 
out  an  inducement  to  pursue  nature  into  her  favor- 
ite retreats,  where  on  the  banks  of  mighty  waters, 
calculated  to  promote  all  the  purposes  of  social 
traffic  among  the  inhabitants,  the  richest  soil,  the 
happiest  climate,  and  the  most  complete  detachment 


23o  MEMOIRS    OF 

from  the  world,  promises  a  safe  asylum  to  those 
who  carry  the  arts  and  the  literature  of  Europe, 
hereafter  to  grace  and  enlighten  scenes  where  agri- 
culture has  already  made  rapid  advances. 

In  the  dawning  light  which  already  begins  to  rise 
in  these  remote  abodes,  much  may  be  discovered  of 
what  promises  a  brighter  day.  Excepting  the  rem- 
nant of  the  old  Canadians,  who  are  a  very  inoffen- 
sive people,  patient  and  cheerful,  attached  to 
monarchy,  and  much  assimilated  to  our  modes  of 
thinking  and  living,  these  provinces  are  peopled,  for 
the  most  part,  with  inhabitants  possessed  of  true 
British  hearts  and  principles.  Veterans  who  have 
shed  their  blood,  and  spent  their  best  days  in  the 
service  of  the  parent  country,  and  royalists  who 
have  fled  here  for  a  refuge,  after  devoting  their  prop- 
erty to  the  support  of  their  honor  and  loyalty  ;  who 
adhere  together  and  form  a  society  graced  by  that 
knowledge,  and  those  manners,  which  rendered  them 
respectable  in  their  original  state,  with  all  the  experi- 
ence gained  from  adversity ;  and  that  elevation  of 
sentiment  which  results  from  the  consciousness  of 
having  suffered  in  a  good  cause.  Here,  too,  are 
clusters  of  emigrants,  who  have  fled,  unacquainted 
with  the  refinements,  and  uncontaminated  by  the 
old  world,  to  seek  for  that  bread  and  peace,  which 
the  progress  of  luxury  and  the  change  of  manners 
denied  them  at  home.  Here  they  come  in  kindly 
confederation,  resolved  to  cherish  in  those  kindred 
groups,  which  have  left  with  social  sorrow  their 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       231 

native  mountains,  the  customs  and  traditions,  the 
language  and  the  love  of  their  ancestors,  and  to  find 
comfort  in  that  religion,  which  has  been  ever  their 
support  and  their  shield,  for  all  that  they  have  left 
behind.1 

It  is  by  tribes  of  individuals  intimately  connected 
with  each  other  by  some  common  tie,  that  a  country 
is  most  advantageously  settled ;  to  which  the  obvi- 
ous superiority  in  point  of  principle  and  union  that 
distinguishes  British  America  from  the  United 
States,  is  chiefly  owing.  Our  provinces  afford  no 
room  for  wild  speculations  either  of  the  commercial 
or  political  kind ;  regular,  moderate  trade,  promis- 
ing little  beyond  a  comfortable  subsistence,  and 
agriculture,  requiring  much  industry  and  settled 
habits,  are  the  only  paths  open  to  adventurers ;  and 
the  chief  inducement  to  emigration  is  the  possibility 
of  an  attached  society  of  friends  and  kindred,  finding 
room  to  dwell  together,  and  meeting,  in  the  depth 
of  these  fertile  wilds,  with  similar  associations. 
Hence  solitary  and  desperate  adventurers,  the  vain, 
the  turbulent,  and  the  ambitious,  shun  these  regu- 
lated abodes  of  quiet  industry,  for  scenes  more 
adapted  to  their  genius. 

I  shall  now  conclude  my  recollections,  which  cir- 
cumstances have  often  rendered  very  painful ;  but 

1  It  is  needless  to  enlarge  on  a  subject,  to  which  Lord  Selkirk  has 
done  such  ample  justice,  who  wanted  nothing  but  a  little  experience 
and  a  little  aid,  to  make  the  best  practical  comments  on  his  own 
judicious  observations.  —  Mrs.  Grant. 


232  MEMOIRS    OF 

will  not  take  upon  me  to  enlarge  on  those  hopes 
that  stretch  a  dubious  wing  into  temporal  futurity, 
in  search  of  a  brighter  day,  and  a  better  order  of 
things.  Content  if  I  have  preserved  some  records 
of  a  valuable  life ;  thrown  some  glimmering  light 
upon  the  progress  of  society  in  that  peculiar  state, 
which  it  was  my  fate  to  witness  and  to  share,  and 
afforded  some  hours  of  harmless  amusement  to  those 
lovers  of  nature  and  of  truth,  who  can  patiently 
trace  their  progress  through  a  tale  devoid  alike  of 
regular  arrangement,  surprising  variety,  and  artificial 
embellishment. 

The  reader,  who  has  patiently  gone  on  to  the 
conclusion  of  these  desultory  memoirs,  will  perhaps 
regret    parting   with    that    singular   association   of 
people,  the  Mohawk  tribes,  without  knowing  where 
the  few  that  remain  have  taken  up  their  abode.     It 
is  but  doing  justice  to  this   distinguished    race   to 
say,  that,  though  diminished,  they  were    not  sub- 
dued; though  voluntary  exiles,  not  degraded.    Their 
courage  and  fidelity  were  to  the  last  exerted  in  the 
most  trying  exigencies.     True  to  their  alliance  wil 
that  nation  with  whom  they  had  ever  lived  in  friem 
ship,  and  faithful  to  that  respectable  family,  who  hi 
formed  at  once  the  cement  and  the  medium  by  whi( 
that  alliance  was  confirmed,  and  through  which 
surances  of  attachment  and  assistance  had  been  trans 
mitted,  all  that  remained  of  this  powerful  natior 
followed  Sir  John  Johnson  (the  son  of  their  revet 


AN    AMERICAN    LADY       233 

Sir  William)  into  Upper  Canada,  where  they  now 
find  a  home  around  the  place  of  his  residence.  One 
old  man  alone,  having  no  living  tie  remaining,  would 
not  forsake  the  tombs  of  his  ancestors,  and  remains 
like  "  a  watchman  on  the  lonely  hill ; "  or  rather  like 
a  sad  memento  of  an  extinguished  nation. 


APPENDIX 


MRS.    ANNE   GRANT'S   LETTERS   TO   DR.    JOSEPH 
GREEN    COGSWELL,    1819-1821 

CORRESPONDENCE   BETWEEN   MRS.    ALEXANDER 
HAMILTON    AND    MRS.    GRANT  IN    1834 

COMMUNICATIONS    FROM    MRS.    GRANT   TO   MRS. 
DOUGLAS    CRUGER,    1837-1838 

LETTERS  TO   MRS.   GRANT  FROM  ROBERT  SOUTHEY 
AND    OTHERS,    1811-1834 

"THE  INDIAN  WIDOW,"  AND  LINES  ADDRESSED  TO 
AN  AMERICAN  LADY  BY  MRS.  GRANT 


A   LIST   OF    MRS.    GRANT'S   WRITINGS 


APPENDIX 


LETTERS   TO   DR.    JOSEPH    GREEN   COGSWELL1 

AMENDELL  HOUSE,  Dec.   ia,  1819. 

MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  I  must  begin  by  assuring  you  that  very  soon 
after  the  receipt  of  your  letter  from  Leipsic  I  bestowed  all  my  te- 
diousness  upon  you  in  a  long  and  minute  epistle,  and  though  I  were 
as  tedious  as  a  queenlike  Dogberry,  I  made  your  honor  very  wel- 
come. You  may  believe,  I  regret  exceedingly  that  what  I  took  so 
much  pains  to  write  should  never  have  reached  you.  But  there  is 
no  intellectual  treasure  lost,  for  I  remember  merely  that  it  was  a 
gossiping  letter,  containing  all  the  little  occurrences  of  the  town, 
which  I  thought  would  be  as  acceptable  to  you  as  any  wit  or 
wisdom  of  mine,  if  I  had  such  to  bestow.  I  was  much  amused  in 
the  meantime  with  your  letter,  and  all  the  lazy  luxury  and  rural 
lounges  of  your  Leipsic  friends.  I  should  exempt  the  ladies  from  this 
charge,  who  seem  to  have  been  like  the  little  busy  bee  in  the  chil- 
dren's hymn.  I  cannot  now  recollect  or  arrange  all  that  I  told 
you  in  my  former  letter,  but  go  on  to  say  how  much  we  were 
amused  by  a  visit  from  young  John  Lowell  and  a  good-natured 
heavy  friend  of  his,  Porter  by  name,  as  unlike  himself  as  possible. 
I  might  tell  you  too  of  the  pains  I  took  to  amuse  them,  and  par- 

1  Joseph  Green  Cogswell  (1786-1871)  spent  two  years  with  George  Ticknor 
at  Gottingen  University,  and  later  the  two  young  New  Englanders  were  guests  of 
Sir  Walter  Scott  at  Abbotsford.  Becoming  the  friend  and  companion  of  Halleck 
and  Irving,  he  was  appointed  with  them  a  Trustee  of  the  Astor  Library,  later 
becoming  its  Superintendent,  and  purchasing  the  books  in  Europe.  Dr.  Cogs- 
well had  met  Goethe,  Humboldt,  Byron,  Beranger,  and  almost  all  of  the  brilliant 
Edinburgh  literary  circle  of  Mrs.  Grant's  era,  having  spent  the  winter  of  1818-19 
there.  He  was  perhaps  the  greatest  favorite  among  her  many  American  friends 
and  correspondents. 


238  APPENDIX 

ticularly  how  I  did  go  down  to  Stirling  with  them,  including  in 
the  party  a  very  admirable  English  clergyman  who  was  here  upon 
a  tour  through  Scotland,  Ryland  by  name  ;  also  Miss  Steven  and 
Miss  North,  to  both  of  whom  Stirling  was  new.  How  fine  the 
weather  was,  how  smooth  the  motion  of  the  steamboat,  and  how 
beautiful,  grand,  and  classical  the  scenery,  I  shall  not  attempt  to 
say.  Nor  yet  —  for  that  would  prove  difficult  —  how  much  my 
fellow-travellers  —  your  countrymen  —  were  particularly  delighted. 
Of  the  hospitality  of  good  old  friends  to  so  large  a  party  I  could 
not  say  enough.  Suffice  that,  after  three  days  of  much  enjoyment, 
both  lively  and  serene,  we  proceeded  homewards,  Mr.  Ryland 
westward,  and  the  Bostonians  to  Loch  Katrine,  all  parting  with 
much  mutual  regret.  A  period  follows  of  which  I  have  a  very 
confused  recollection  from  the  rapid  succession  of  strangers,  with 
letters  of  introduction,  to  whom  I  felt  obliged,  as  best  I  could,  to 
do  the  honors  of  Edinburgh.  They  were  persons  whom  it  was  a 
pleasure  to  see  and  serve,  but  came  in  such  quick  succession  that 
they  have  not  kept  the  place  they  deserved  in  my  memory.  Mrs. 
Fletcher  had  gone  with  her  family  to  visit  her  relations  in  York- 
shire. Every  one  else  that  strangers  care  for  was  out  of  town,  by 
which  means  I  stood  alone  to  do  these  duties  of  hospitality.  In 
August  Mrs.  F.,  with  her  daughters,  went  to  London.  My  son  was 
pressed  to  spend  his  holidays  with  our  friends  the  Ruckers,  and  Angus 
Fletcher  being  to  go  up  at  the  same  time,  they  went  together. 
Mrs.  Fletcher's  journey  proved  very  interesting,  from  her  present 
intercourse  with  persons  whom  to  name  is  to  praise,  — Joanna 
Baillie,  Lady  Byron,  Thomas  Campbell,  Mrs.  Barbauld,  Mrs. 
Fry,  and  numberless  names  of  less  renown,  the  rest  unknown  to 
fame.  John  [Mrs.  Grant's  son]  was  very  fortunate  in  the  kind- 
ness of  his  friends.  Not  content  with  showing  him  all  that  could 
amuse  or  improve  him,  they  went  purposely  to  Oxford,  staying 
two  days  to  show  it  to  him,  and  carried  him  on  a  tour  they  were 
making  to  the  Isle  of  Wight.  He  staid  six  or  seven  weeks.  Mean- 
time, we  too  had  an  enjoyment.  I  must  go  back  to  tell  you  Miss 
North,  a  little  before  this  time,  went  reluctantly  to  London  ;  that 
Miss  Futher,  a  very  fine  girl,  and  her  brothers,  two  handsome, 
modest,  and  well  informed  young  man,  were  among  our  summer 
guests  —  that  they  wished  her  to  return,  but  she  implored  and 


APPENDIX  239 

obtained  a  respite  for   another  year  —  that  they  carried  her  with 
them  all  over  the  Highlands  for  a  fortnight,  which  delighted  them 
not  a  little,  and   confirmed  her  Scottish  mania ;  also  that  Moore 
[Mrs.  Grant's  daughter],  taking  a  fancy  to  spend  a  little  time  in 
the   sheltering  retreats  of  beautiful  Dunkeld,  we  proceeded  there 
early  in  August,  and  though  pressed  by  many  Highland  friends  to 
stay  with  them,  and  within  a  day's  journey  of  Laggan,  I  took  lodg- 
ings in  the  pretty  little  town  of  Dunkeld.     I  received  a  letter  from 
the  Duchess  of  Athol,  then  at  Blair,  giving  free  access  to  all  her 
walks  and  gardens  in  that  delightful  spot.    The  clergy  of  the  place 
(there  are   two)   are  both   learned  and  most  agreeable  men,  and 
made  to  us   the  most  pleasant  neighbors  imaginable.     We  were 
overwhelmed  with  kindness  by  the  gentry  in  the  vicinity,  and  cer- 
tainly before  the  cordiality  of  Highland  kindness  that  of  others 
sinks  into  mere  civility.     Seeing  we  would  not  come,  they  sent  us 
everything  you  could  think  of —  among  the  rest  a  pretty  little  pony 
for  Moore  to  ride  as  long  as  pleased  her,  of  which  she  made  great 
use.     The  only  thing  like  an  event  that  occurred  to  us  was  my 
meeting  with  Prince  Leopold,  which  took  place  in  consequence  of 
a  visit  I  paid  to  the  Izetts  of  Kinnaird.     Mrs.  Izett,  a  very  amiable 
woman,  with  a  highly  cultivated  mind,  was  the  particular  friend  of 
the  late  Mrs.  Brunton,  to  whom  her  published  letters  are  chiefly 
addressed.      Staying  a  few  very  pleasant  days  with  her,  half-way 
betwixt  Dunkeld  and  Blair,  we  heard  the  Prince,  who  had  dined 
the  day  before  with  the  Duke,  was  to  pass  through  the  Kinnaird 
grounds  on  his  way  to  Lord  Breadalbane's.     Resolved  on  getting  a 
complete  view  of  him,  we  went  down  to  the  River  Tummel,  where 
he  must  needs  cross.      He  left  his   horses  to  be  fed  in  the  village, 
and  crossed  with  the  intention  to  walk  on,  attended  by  only  three 
or  four  gentlemen.     He  met  us,  and  spoke  to  us.     I  was  formally 
introduced  to  him,  conversed  with   him  a  little,  and  might  have 
prolonged  that  pleasure  had  I  not  been  doubtful  of  encroaching  on 
his   politeness.       I  was  charmed  with  his  appearance.     Yet  his 
singular  fate  —  the  sudden  elevation  and  more  sudden  depression  of 
"  this  husband  of  a  year,  this  father  of  a  day  "  — pressed  so  heavily 
on  my  mind,  that  I  spoke  to  him  with  a  hesitation  that  the  sense  of 
superior  rank  would  never  have  produced.   Do  you  remember  Colonel 
Stuart  ?     Now  I  think  of  it,  he  was  not  in  Edinburgh  in  your  day. 


24o  APPENDIX 

He  was  the  Prince's  cicerone  in  his  native  Breadalbane,  and  a  very 
fit  one,  for  a  truer  or  braver  Highlander  breathes  not.  Three 
weeks,  three  little  weeks,  I  spent  in  Athol,  and  then  removed  to 
Dumblane,  on  account  of  its  medicinal  waters,  recommended  to 
Moore.  This  abode  too  I  liked  exceedingly  —  the  old  Cathedral, 
the  solemn  walks,  the  good  Bishop  Leighton's  memory  and  his 
library,  had  all  charms  for  me;  but  the  greatest  charm  was  that 
leisure  and  perfect  freedom  to  which  in  general  I  am  so  much  a 
stranger,  and  living  for  the  time  merely  with  and  for  my  dear  girls. 
We  lived  a  great  deal  within  that  fortnight,  and  sadly  reluctant 
was  I  to  leave,  though  a  call  of  duty  as  well  as  of  friendship  sum- 
moned me  at  the  time,  and  I  left  Isabella  and  Moore  to  enjoy  the 
quiet  and  the  waters  a  week  longer.  I  found  my  sick  friend  better, 
and  then  went  to  spend  three  happy  weeks  at  Jordanhill,  with 
that  dear  family  whose  firm  and  tender  attachment  has  been  the 
cordial  of  my  life  for  forty  years  past,  and  whose  excellent  children 
inherit  their  parents'  feelings  towards  me  and  mine.  Three  other 
weeks  passed  here,  I  need  not  say  how  pleasantly.  I  was  then 
obliged  to  return  home,  having  to  meet  a  gentleman  who  had 
placed  a  daughter  with  me,  Ildeton  by  name.  I  should  have  staid 
on  the  way  with  the  Hon.  Mrs.  Erskine  at  Amendell,  whom  you 
must  remember.  She  remembers  you  perfectly.  We  had  agreed 
to  pass  the  week  of  the  musical  festival,  which  we  both  wished  to 
avoid,  in  this  retreat,  but  it  could  not  be.  What  I  dreaded  took 
place.  I  was  obliged  to  go  to  the  festival,  and  to  see  a  balloon  fly 
over  the  Calton  Hill,  etc.  The  consequence  was  that  I  caught  a 
violent  cold,  attended  with  other  unpleasant  symptoms.  I  was 
seriously  ill,  and  kept  the  house  six  weeks.  I  began  to  go  out  a 
very  little,  and  was  really  much  better,  when  Mrs.  Erskine  pre- 
vailed on  me,  very  easily  indeed,  to  accompany  her,  with  one  other 
lady.  Here  I  am  so  very  well,  so  perfectly  quiet,  spending  my 
time  so  much  to  my  wish,  and  in  such  congenial  society.  Hear- 
ing too  such  good  accounts  of  Moore,  that  I  dread  next  week,  when 
I  must  fly  this  abode  of  pensive  peace  to  mingle  with  the  crowd, 
and  be  at  cross  purposes  about  various  engagements.  Now,  after 
all  this  egotism,  it  is  time  to  speak  of  other  people.  We  have 
Miss  Stanger,  very  much  improved,  and  Miss  Ildeton,  from  Eng- 
land ;  Miss  Steven,  much  come  out  and  handsome,  and 


APPENDIX  241 

good  girl ;  Miss  Crochs  from  the  West  Country.  Miss  Edward  and 
Mr.  Crawford  fell  out  violently,  —  he  went  to  London,  and  she  to 
old  friends  near  Leith,  who  brought  her  up.  They  wished  to 
seclude  her  among  them  from  a  fear  that  she  would,  doubtless, 
marry  Captain  Macdonald.  I  understand  she  is  about  to  leave 
them,  and  think  it  is  likely  she  will  marry  the  Captain  after  all.  Do 
you  remember  the  Captain's  pretty  sister,  Jacobina  ?  She  is  lately 
married  to  a  very  ill-looking  and  very  silly  Yorkshire  baronet,  under 
age,  —  some  years  younger  than  herself,  but  possessed  of  twelve 
thousand  a  year.  Her  sister  is  gone  up  with  her.  A  marriage  has 
just  taken  place  which  gives  the  utmost  concern  to  the  friends  of 
both  parties.  It  is  that  of  the  thrice  beautiful  Miss  Maclean  with  a 
very  idle  and  shallow  young  man,  Clark,  a  younger  brother  of 
Clark  of  Comrie,  totally  unprovided,  and  without  any  feasible 
prospect.  They  say  the  glory  of  carrying  her  off  privately  was  the 
chief  motive.  I  was  thunderstruck  at  hearing  this  to-day,  having 
imagined  that  she  was  on  the  way  to  India  with  Lady  Loudon  or 
Hastings.  You  hardly  know  so  much  of  young  Lady  Thomas 
Cochran  as  would  make  you  sorry  for  her  death,  which  happened 
a  month  ago,  after  the  birth  of  a  child.  You  remember  the  Stotts. 
Their  son  is  gone  to  Oxford  this  season,  and  they  are  very  sensibly 
gone  too  —  to  watch  over  him.  Do  you  remember  Mr.  Frederic 
Grant  ?  He  is  just  married  to  a  very  lovely  and  accomplished  girl 
of  his  own  name,  who  was  a  while  our  very  pleasant  inmate. 
They  are  gone,  accompanied  by  her  sister,  to  spend  a  year  on  the 
Continent.  You  may  possibly  meet  them  in  Paris  ;  pray  be  on  the 
lookout  for  them.  How  much  I  should  admire  the  taste  of  Augustus 
[Thorndike]  if  it  led  him  to  fall  in  love  with  her  !  He  will  see  few 
so  elegant,  none  more  amiable  or  accomplished.  I  heard  of  a  loss 
with  much  regret  to-day,  though  not  with  more  concern  than  the 
news  of  Miss  Maclean's  marriage.  It  is  the  death  of  that  of  an 
excellent  and  much  loved  person,  Mrs.  Col.  Gerrard,  the  daughter 
of  Rev.  Mr.  Allison,  and  the  mother  of  five  children.  It  took 
place  in  Lausanne,  where  she  went  in  full  health,  and  caught 
this  fatal  typhus  fever.  I  thank  you  for  translating  to  me  in  idea  the 
great  sublime  of  nature,  which  carried  you  "  Beyond  the  visible 
Diurnal  sphere,"  while  the  Alps  in  all  their  lofty  grandeur  and 
snowy  purity  lay  before  you.  I  have  much  curiosity  about  Bo- 
VOL.  ii.  — 16 


APPENDIX 

hernia.  Why  did  you  not  tell  me  more  of  my  long  admired  and 
much  approved  Tyrolese  ?  I  would  tell  you  much  of  Edinburgh, 
and  all  the  architectural  wonder*  that  have  been  wrought  in  your 
absence,  but  I  have  a  strong  hope  that  you  will  see  it  again,  and 
wish  you  to  be  agreeably  surprised.  Mr.  Arthur,  a  gentleman  of 
family  with  •  strong  taste  for  literature,  is  with  his  family  at 
Tour*.  His  wife  is  a  sister  of  Mrs.  Gillies,  and  was  a  visitor  of 
mine.  Will  you  deliver  my  compliments  to  her  ?  I  know  some 
other  people  at  Tours,  but  forget  at  this  moment  who  they  are. 
Crawford  is  coarse,  but  not  malicious.  I  take  it  that  Mist 
Edward,  who  has  a  great  relish  for  the  pleasure  of  giving  pain, 
took  particular  pains  to  make  him  jealous  of  you.  He  said  to  me 
that  you  were  full  of  nonsensical  German  romance,  and  I  do  not 
think  he  said  more  to  any  one.  All  reporters,  whether  in  or  out 
of  the  House  of  Commons,  are  given  to  exaggerate.  I  say  nothing 
of  the  acts  of  Radicals  —  you  will  find  them  all  in  the  papers  — 
only  that  I  view  them  with  a  countenance  more  in  sorrow  than  in 
anger,  and  not  in  the  least  in  fear.  I  am  glad  Augustus  goes  home. 
My  good  wishes  follow  him.  I  wish  they  could  overtake  him 
with  the  effect  of  making  him  do  justice  to  a  very  good  heart  and 
respectable  understanding.  Write  from  Paris,  and  believe  me,  with 
sincere  good  will  and  much  regard, 

Yours,  AHNI  GRANT,    jj 

P.  S.  —Answered  instantly  upon  receipt.     Mrs.  Erskine  sends  her 
compliments  to  you,  and  wishes  much  that  you  were  here  again  with  us. 

101,  PRINCES  STREET,  [EDINBURGH]  n.th  May,  1819. 
MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  I  received  your  letter  with  very  great  pleasure, 
for  I  do  love  to  be  remembered,  and  were  I  writing  of  you  instead 
of  addressing  yourself  to  you,  I  should  describe  the  sort  of  personi 
by  whom  I  most  desire  to  be  remembered.  But  you  arc  so  tend- 
erly  cherished  by  friends  whose  praise  is  fame,  that  my  mite  of 
approbation  would  scarce  be  noticed  amidst  the  abundance  of  these 
testimonies  of  affection,  sweetened  with  encomiums  (more  sincere 
than  most  such),  that  you  receive  from  others.  Now,  I  purposely 
delayed  writing  that  I  might  not  send  fear  or  sorrow  over  the  sea. 
Yet  I  have  begun  very  meritoriously  in  the  pangs  of  a  rheumatic 
toothache,  but  this  is  merely  pain,  which  you  know  some  philoso- 


APPENDIX  243 

phers  considered  as  no  evU.  So  do  not  I.  But  you  know  too 
well  when  we  have  felt  the  extremity  of  mental  agony  how  lightly 
mere  bodily  pain  appears  in  comparison.  But  now  to  my  narra- 
tion. Soon  after  I  received  your  letter  I  was  seized  with  an  in- 
fluenza, which  has  for  some  weeks  past  been  epidemical  in  town. 
;  Isabella  had  it  before,  in  her  meek,  quiet  way  saying  very  little 
|  about  it.  Nor  should  I  have  said  much  had  it  not  come  in  a 
!  questionable  hour,  with  so  violent  and  continual  a  cough,  that  I  had 
not  an  interval  of  quiet.  This  lasted  three  weeks.  I  am  thankful 
to  say  I  am  now  quite  well.  But  a  much  greater  alarm  awaited 
me.  Moore,  my  dear  Moore,  whose  sound  and  powerful  mind 
has  been  so  long  and  severely  tried  with  illness,  was  recovering 
ist  and  preparing  her  dress  to  go  out,  when  she  was  seized 
so  very  severely  with  this  influenza  that  we  were  terrified  for  the 
result.  It  came  in  the  shape  of  fever,  and  has  reduced  her  very 
much,  but,  thank  God,  she  is  now  decidedly  recovering,  though 
•till  confined  to  bed,  and  her  medical  attendant  thinks  that  this  will 
be  the  means  of  curing  her  tedious  rheumatism.  I  have  been  the 
fuller  in  these  details  to  account  for  my  silence.  I  do  not  like  to 
practise  on  the  feelings  of  my  absent  friends,  and  therefore  seldom 
acquaint  them  with  any  crisis  of  this  nature  till  it  determines  one 
way  or  other.  Before  I  close  this  list  of  calamities  I  must  call 
forth  your  sympathy  for  one  in  which  your  countryman  has  been 
involved,  —  not  being  so  selfish  as  to  demand  it  all  for  Scottish 
suffering.  The  all-accomplished  Mr.  Livingston,  like  many  other 
distinguished  characters,  prides  himself  most  on  that  in  which  he 
excels  least ;  namely,  horsemanship,  which  he  seems  (or  did  seem) 
to  class  with  the  moral  virtues.  He  came  to  us  one  night  in  a 
state  of  visible  perturbation.  We  thought  something  terrible  had 
happened,  and  so  it  proved.  For  a  little  horse,  a  most  treacherous, 
deceitful  animal,  had  run  off"  with  him  for  some  miles.  Preserving 
his  balance  without  being  thrown  off  and  arriving  safe  in  town,  ap- 
peared to  him  such  an  exploit  as  to  deserve  an  ovation  at  least. 
Meantime  he  had  evidently  come  to  tell  us  lest  we  should  have 
heard  it  reported  to  his  disadvantage,  and  was  most  anxious  to 
show  us  it  was  from  no  defect  in  his  skill  that  this  happened.  In 
less  than  a  fortnight,  as  he  was  riding  past  the  post  office,  his 
fell  with  him  and  broke  his  arm  at  the  elbow  in  the  most  pain- 


244  APPENDIX 

ful  and  shattering  way  imaginable.  You  can  conceive  nothing 
more  distressing,  and  he  has  not  even  the  consolation  of  looking 
like  a  hero  of  a  duel,  with  his  arm  in  a  scarf.  He  is  forced  to 
hold  it  perpendicularly  down,  and  will  have  no  use  of  his  arm  for 
many  months.  I  am  quite  seriously  vexed  for  him.  *  He  is  not  in 
visiting  condition,  you  may  suppose.  I  heard  to-day  that  the  acci- 
dent happened  by  his  throwing  himself  in  a  fright  from  the  horse. 
Though  he  does  not  visit  in  general  he  comes  often  here,  and  we 
are  at  pains  to  amuse  him.  Miss  Edmund  has  left  us  for  some  time 
to  stay  with  old  friends  at  the  seaside.  Of  literary  news  I  have 
little.  Dr.  Brunton  has  published  a  short,  modest,  and  very  well 
written  memoir  of  his  admirable  wife,  with  a  fragment  of  a  tale 
beautifully  executed,  as  far  as  it  goes,  which  she  left  unfinished,  and 
some  partial  extracts  of  a  journal  in  which  her  vigorous  mind  and 
sound  discernment  are  very  obvious.  Campbell's  Specimens  of 
English  Poetry,  with  short  critical  notices,  appeared,  I  think,  be- 
fore you  left  us.  The  little  of  himself  that  intervenes  between 
these  specimens  is  exquisite.  I  read  them  over  and  over  with  ever 
new  delight,  and  when  I  cease  reading  a  sensation  remains  on  my 
mind  that  makes  me  think  of  what  Milton  says : 

"  The  Angel  ended,  but  in  Adam's  ear 
So  charming  left  his  voice,  that  he  awhile 
Still  thought  him  speaking,  still  stood  fixed  to  hear." 

So  much  refinement  without  fastidiousness,  such  perfect  delicacy 
and  truth  of  taste,  and  moreover  so  much  truth  and  wisdom  conveyed 
in  language  of  classical  purity  and  unequalled  sweetness.  People 
growl  at  there  being  so  little  of  these  precious  strictures.  Would 
they  drink  champagne  out  of  tumblers  ?  The  Blackwood  has  lost 
all  shame.  The  last  number  is  perfectly  vindictive  against  the 
Whig  observances  in  the  bitterest  satire  and  the  keenest  ridicule. 
There  is,  for  instance,  an  Alphabet  on  the  plan  of  A.  was  an  archer 
and  shot  at  a  frog,  etc.,  in  which  each  name  has  some  undesir- 
able attribute.  There  are  such  complaints  as  might  remind  one 
of  «« Cocytus  named  for  lamentation  loud."  They  meantime  sell 
four  thousand  numbers  and  laugh  at  censure.  The  Rev.  Mr. 
Morehead  has  undertaken  Constable's  Magazine,  the  Crafty  man 
having  as  usual  quarrelled  with  his  Editors  and  dismissed  them. 


APPENDIX  245 

Wordsworth  has  published  a  Peter  Bell,  enough  to  make  the  gravest 
laugh,  the  worthiest  weep  ;  it  is  so  absurd,  and  the  worthless  waste 
of  an  amiable  man's  talents  is  so  lamentable.  It  is  a  kind  of  sequel 
to  the  Lyrical  Ballads.  The  White  Doe  was  below  zero,  and 
this  is  below  the  White  Doe.  Some  wag  anticipated  without  see- 
ing it,  and  published  a  very  comical  Peter  Bell  of  his  own,  assuring 
his  readers  that  this  was  the  real  Simon  pure,  and  that  any  ap- 
pearing after,  must  be  a  counterfeit.  There  is  also  a  very  witty 
Examiner  published  in  ridicule  of  Leigh  Hunt's,  as  written  by  him- 
self. The  Edinburgh  Review  has  come  out  two  days  ago,  duller 
than  I  have  ever  known  it,  containing,  however,  very  just  praise  of 
Campbell  and  quite  sufficiently  laudatory  of  Samuel  Rogers,  whose 
poems  I  like  better  than  I  thought  I  should.  All  the  other  articles 
are  medical,  surgical  or  Broughamical.  That  is,  it  is  loaded  with 
•  long  bitter  defence  of  Brougham  about  the  schools,  defending 
him  from  the  strictures  in  the  Quarterly.  The  hostility  between 
these  rival  powers  grows  daily  warmer.  I  compare  them  to  two 
champions  in  the  lists,  while  Blackwood  and  Constable  appear  in 
their  respective  magazines  as  the  attendant  squires  of  these  doughty 
knights.  Walter  Scott  called  the  other  day  to  take  leave,  saying 
be  could  not  go  away  without  shaking  hands  with  me,  but  was 
•fraid  so  much  had  he  been  shaken  that  I  would  scarcely  know  him, 
but  mistake  him  for  a  Potato  Bogle  !  Pity  an  image  so  thoroughly 
Scotch,  and  so  untranslatable,  should  be  lost  on  you  ! l  It  is  time 
now  to  do  what  a  well-bred  person  would  have  done  at  first,  i.e., 
advert  to  your  letter.  I  was  aware  that  your  voyage  would  be 
neither  short  nor  pleasant.  I  am  charmed  with  your  intelligent 
peasant  that  loved  his  own  ugly  country  so  well.  Such  countries 
are  always  best  loved  by  such  of  the  natives  as  are  capable  of 
loving  anything.  You  know  better  than  I  can  tell  you  what  an 
•dded  demonstration  this  affords  of  the  benevolent  wisdom  that 
governs  all.  But  you  cannot  know  so  well  as  I  could  tell  you, 
how  many  endearing  virtues  often  flourish  best  in  barren  soils. 
But  having  been  already  "as  tedious  as  a  King,"  I  do  not  feel 

»  A  down  rear,  later  Sir  Walter  made  use  of  the  same  expression  when  Wash- 
ington Irving  called  on  the  illustrious  author  then  in  London,  on  his  way  to  Italy, 
in  the  rain  hope  of  restoring  his  shattered  health.  Kb  "  Bryant  and  hi. 
Friends,"  p.  163,  New  York,  1886. 


246  APPENDIX 

inclined  to  bestow  much  more  of  my  tediousness  upon  your  wor- 
ship. I  might  have  addressed  you  in  terms  sentimental  or  meta- 
physical considering  where  this  will  find  you.  But  you  will  meet  so 
much  of  both  these  commodities  where  you  are,  that  it  is  needless 
to  send  over  the  sea  what  you  have  in  abundance,  and  I  wish  merely 
to  amuse  you.  You  are  far  too  well  governed,  I  trust,  in  all  that 
is  right,  to  seek  advice  from  me,  and  I  have  no  ambition  to  be  con- 
sidered a  fine  letter  writer,  so  you  must  accept  a  little  harmless 
gossip.  Lady  Buchan  has  been  dead  about  a  week,  to  his  Lord- 
ship's undissembled  joy,  and  he  has  already  asked  and  been  refused 
by  a  young  lady,  but  will  learn  to  be  satisfied  with  some  more 
humble  choice.  The  Fletchers  are  very  well  and  inquire  of  you 
very  tenderly.  The  young  ones  talk  of  a  short  tour  to  the  Con- 
tinent. I  beg  to  be  kindly  remembered  to  Augustus  [Thorn- 
dike]  ,  for  whom  I  retain  no  small  kindness,  though  I  am  provoked 
at  his  not  doing  more  justice  to  himself.  He  is  the  prey  of  self-dis- 
trust, while  others  with  neither  his  goodness  of  heart  nor  abilities, 
being  themselves  forward  by  mere  dint  of  self-opinion  and  confi- 
dent address.  I  am  glad  that  you  will  return  less  Germanized  than 
formerly.  Herman  is  a  very  honest  and  willing  and  laborious 
drudge  in  the  mine  of  science.  But  his  taste  is  bad  and  his  notions 
crude  and  unformed.  His  religion  is  very  sentimental,  mystic,  and 
approaching  to  Deistical.  And  good  that  doubleth  has  a  little  trim- 
ming of  French  tinsel  of  which  he  is  himself  insensible.  Then 
he  will  talk  —  ye  gods,  how  he  will  talk  !  —  and  after  all  his  talk  is 
««  rendered  heavily,  heavily  "  by  the  enthusiastic  German  philoso- 
pher Sir  William  Hamilton,  who  spoke  much  and  very  kindly  of 
you.  Now  that  this  paper  is  done,  I  think  of  things  I  should  have 
told  you.  Let  me  hear  how  you  get  on.  All  this  family  send 
affectionate  remembrances  to  you. 

I  am,  with  sincere  regard,  very  much  yours, 

ANNE  GRANT. 
Never  was  May  so  mild,  so  showery  and  so  flowery  as  this. 

MOUNT  ANNAN,  22  August,  1820. 

MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  You  have  escaped  from  me  while  my  hands 
were  stretched  out  in  all  directions  to  seize  upon  you.  It  grieved 
me  not  a  little,  in  the  first  place,  that  I  was  forced  to  leave  Edin- 


APPENDIX  247 

burgh  while  you  were  there.  Then  I  flattered  myself  with  having 
enough  of  antiquated  attraction  to  keep  you  a  day  at  Moffat  on 
your  way  up.  Then  being  engaged  to  make  a  visit  to  General 
Direm's  at  Mount  Annan,  I  went  with  the  intention  of  returning 
to  bonny  Moffat  when  I  should  hear  that  you  were  in  Edinburgh, 
that  I  might  meet  you.  John  wrote  to  me  that  you  were  leaving 
Edinburgh  on  the  ensuing  Friday.  I  was  bustling  about  my  prep- 
arations for  departure.  My  friends,  understanding  my  motive, 
persuaded  me  that  by  leaving  them  at  the  time,  I  should  pass  you 
on  the  road.  I  wrote  to  Isabella  at  their  request  to  direct  you  and 
your  companion,  if  such  you  had,  to  come  here  on  your  way 
to  Mount  Annan,  just  overlooking  the  town  of  Annan,  through 
which  you  must  necessarily  pass.  Not  content  with  authorizing 
this  invitation,  the  General,  who  is  an  excellent  person,  sent  a 
note  himself  to  the  inn  where  the  coach  stops,  inviting  you.  We 
meanwhile  thought  every  person  less  than  six  feet  high  who  came 
up  the  avenue  must  needs  be  you.  After  all,  need  I  add  words  to 
convince  you  of  your  importance  in  my  eyes,  or  of  the  excess  of 
disappointment  when  informed  by  a  letter  from  Isabella  this  even- 
ing, saying  you  had  been  hastily  called  to  London,  and  if  I  wished 
to  give  you  the  last  remaining  proof  of  my  tenderness,  I  must  write 
to  you  there  immediately.  This,  you  see,  I  am  doing  with  all  my 
might,  though  the  man  is  hurrying  to  the  post  office,  and  though 
this  fine  house  of  Mount  Annan,  which  abounds  in  pleasant  people 
and  good  things,  does  not  after  all  afford  a  tolerable  pen.  Judge 
how  eloquent  I  should  be  if  I  had  a  very  good  one.  In  this  in- 
spiring place,  where  the  Cumberland  mountains  are  in  full  sight  of 
my  window,  and  where  every  town  and  stream  speak  of  the 
"  Bold  Buccleuch  "  and  Willy  of  Kinmont,  of  belted  knights  and 
desperate  forays,  I  cannot  so  much  as  walk  among  these  beautiful 
shades  by  moonlight  for  fear  of  meeting  one  of  the  Wardens  of  the 
English  Border.  When  will  so  many  associations  and  so  many 
dignified  spectres  meet  you  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic  ?  The 
most  you  have  to  look  at  is  the  angry  spirit  of  some  old  sachem 
who  died  of  new  rum  or  the  smallpox,  given  him  by  his  white 
friends.  For  Washington  and  Patrick  Henry  must  be  at  east  a 
hundred  years  dead  before  they  can 

"  Revisit  thus  the  glimpses  of  the  moon, 
Making  night  hideous." 


248  APPENDIX 

For  a  ghost  to  appear  impressive  must  be  as  long  dead  before  he  is 
awful,  as  a  Catholic  saint  before  he  is  canonized. 

You  are  perhaps  shocked  at  all  this  levity  in  a  farewell  letter, 
but  pray  observe,  I  do  not  consider  it  such.  You  cannot  do  less 
after  all  my  solicitude  than  write  to  me  from  London.  Answer 
you  I  shall,  though 

"Broad  seas  between  us  roll  and  roar." 

And  see  you  I  will,  having  already  a  "second  sight"  of  you 
landing  at  Greenock.  I  dare  say,  however,  you  may  take  a  fancy 
to  see  your  new  western  world  first.  In  that  case  you  will  meet 
Mr.  Preston,  and  be  sure  you  tell  him  that  in  consideration  of  all  the 
good  I  have  heard  of  him  since  he  went  westward,  I  forgive  his 
breach  of  promise  to  me.  This  kind  message  will  at  once  prove 
my  constancy,  my  clemency,  and  my  high  esteem  for  even  imper- 
fect virtue,  for,  had  his  been  perfect,  he  would  have  kept  his  word. 
I  will  not  say  how  sorry  I  shall  be  not  to  see  you  more,  or  allow 
myself  to  think  the  separation  final.  I  thought  (what  did  I  not 
think  ?)  of  the  many  letters  I  was  to  send  by  you  to  my  many 
American  friends,  but  you  see  that  cannot  be.  Remember  me, 
however,  tenderly  to  Mrs.  Jackson,  whom  I  highly  esteem,  and 
fondly  to  Sarah  Lowell,  whom  I  truly  love,  centering  in  her  and  her 
brother  the  regard  now  exalted  into  veneration,  which  I  felt  for  the 
departed  worthies  of  their  family.  If  you  see  Mr.  Bigelow,  pray 
tell  him  that  I  did  not  receive  his  long  letter  of  last  year,  though 
I  acknowledged  it  in  a  hurry  by  mistake.  Augustus  [Thorndike] 
has  been  too  long  in  France  to  care  about  old  friends  or  early  recol- 
lections, else  I  should  send  him  my  kind  regards.  Present  them, 
however,  to  Mr.  Ticknor.1 

1  The  following  extract  from  a  letter  addressed  to  a  Transatlantic  correspondent, 
also  alludes  to  Mr.  George  Ticknor  of  Boston,  and  several  other  friends  and  visitors 
from  the  new  world  :  "  The  American  character  has  been  much  raised  among 
our  literary  people  here,  by  a  constellation  of  persons  of  brilliant  talents  and  polished 
manners,  by  whom  we  were  dazzled  and  delighted  last  winter.  A  Mr.  Preston  of 
Virginia  (South  Carolina)  and  his  friend  from  Carolina,  whose  name  I  cannot 
spell,  for  it  is  French  (Hugh  S.  Legare),  Mr.  Ticknor  and  Mr.  Cogswell  were 
the  most  distinguished  representatives  of  your  new  world.  A  handsome  and  high 
bred  Mr.  Ralston,  from  Philadelphia,  whose  mind  seemed  equal  to  his  other  attrac- 
tions, left  also  a  very  favorable  impression  of  Transatlantic  accomplishments.  These 


APPENDIX  249 

The  Post  calls.  Pray  write  from  London,  and  believe,  wher- 
ever you  go,  you  will  be  followed  by  the  affectionate  good  wishes 
of,  dear  sir, 

Yours  most  cordially,  ANNE  GRANT. 


1 01  PRINCES  STREET,  April  14,  1821. 

MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  You  cannot  suppose  me  to  have  forgotten  you, 
though  perhaps  I  have  been  too  long  in  telling  you  so.  Your  affec- 
tionate and  most  valued  letter  on  the  eve  of  departure  from  the  old 
world  filled  me  with  regret  at  your  departure  and  concern  for 
your  health.  That  seemed  too  good  an  excuse  for  your  not  com- 
ing to  Moffat.  You  cannot  imagine  how  we  all  luxuriated  in  the 
simple,  pastoral,  and  mild  tranquillity  of  our  most  desirable  abode 
there.  I  wished  you  to  have  a  picture  of  that  green  dale  of  many  pure 
streams  with  its  sheltering  mountains,  and  the  friends  who  so  often 
spoke  and  thought  of  you  there,  to  sooth  your  imagination  where  you 
could  only  see  meeting  seas  and  skies.  I  thank  you  for  the  affectionate 
expression  of  your  regard,  because  I  know  it  to  be  perfectly  sincere. 
So  Hamlet  says  to  Horatio  :  "  Why  should  the  poor  be  flattered  ?  " 
Amidst  very  many  and  very  deep  afflictions  the  consolation  has 
been  vouchsafed  to  me  of  dwelling  in  comfort  with  the  excellent  of 
the  earth,  and  breathing  in  such  an  atmosphere  of  the  warmest 
friendship  and  purest  virtue  that  I  must  have  been  something  more 
"Than  fables  e'er  have  feigned  or  been  conceived  "  not  to  profit 
by  such  an  association.  I  was  certainly  very  anxious  to  know  of 
your  health  after  your  arrival,  and  did  hear  good  accounts  of  you, 
but  I  cannot  remember  how.  Indeed  my  recollections  have  been 
a  good  deal  confused  in  consequence  of  an  accident  which  en- 
dangered my  life,  and  has  confined  me  to  the  house  in  a  very 
helpless  state  all  winter.  I  am  really  tired  of  answering  inquiries 
about  this  same  fall,  and  most  unwilling  to  sink  into  the  habits  too 
frequent  among  invalids  of  my  age  and  sex  —  that  of  making  my- 
self and  my  personal  calamities  the  subject  of  wearisome  details.  I 
have  been  obliged  to  tell  the  sad  story  of  the  fall  and  its  conse- 

were  all  very  agreeable  persons,  Mr.  Ticknor  pre-eminently  to,  and  I  can  assure 
you  ample  justice  was  done  to  their  merits  here." 


250  APPENDIX 

quences  so  frequently  that  I  revolt  at  the  repetition  of  it,  but  from 
our  mutual  friends,  the  Sewells,  you  can  hear  all  the  painful  parti- 
culars. The  enjoyment  of  last  summer  and  autumn,  the  tranquil 
freedom  and  domestic  comforts  of  Moffat,  and  the  succeeding 
delights  of  the  Southern  Border  more  vivid  and  more  varied  re- 
quired a  counterbalance,  and  they  have  found  it. 

I  do  not  exactly  recollect  whether  you  traced  the  classic  streams 
of  the  Tweed,  the  Jed,  and  the  Teviot  in  the  same  direction  that 
I  did  when  paying  a  visit  to  an  old  friend  in  September  last.  Yet 
from  your  ardent  curiosity  about  things  worth  seeing,  I  think  you 
must  have  gone  there  were  it  but  to  see  the  fine  skeleton  of  Melrose 
Abbey,  beautiful  in  decay  and  commemorated  in  all  its  pristine 
dignity  in  "The  Monastery,"  which  I  take  it  for  granted  you 
have  read,  and  which  I  value  much  more  than  most  readers  do, 
because  it  contains  an  accurate  and  pleasing  sketch  of  a  mode  of 
life  hitherto  nondescript,  yet  very  interesting.  That  the  church 
vassals  were  indeed  the  only  vassals  in  those  troublous  times  who 
quietly  enjoyed  the  fruits  in  the  stormy  bounds  of  the  restless 
Borders,  such  a  peaceful  and  comparatively  free  community  is  as 
refreshing  to  the  mind  that  contemplates  it  as  a  green  oasis  must 
have  been  in  the  wastes  of  Arabia  Deserta.  Glendearg  did  not  live 
merely  in  my  imagination,  for  before  quitting  the  fair  region  of 
shadowy  recollections  I  spent  two  or  three  days  at  the  house  of  a 
gentleman  who  lives  a  mile  from  the  Abbey,  and  by  the  individ- 
ual ford  where  the  white  hind  mounted  behind  the  mule  of  the 
bewildered  priest.  On  the  other  side  of  the  Tweed  opposite  is 
a  very  narrow  glen,  terrific  for  the  common  people  from  the  noise 
of  winds  and  falling  waters  heard  fitfully  through  its  narrow  winding 
bounds.  The  common  people  call  it  the  fairy  glen.  Tt  has  indeed 
no  other.  It  ascends  slowly  through  Lord  Somerville's  grounds 
till  it  reaches  the  boundary  hills  and  wild  moorlands,  at  which  ter- 
mination are  still  remaining  the  ruins  of  a  small  fortalice.  My  friends 
and  I  tried  this  romantic  and  gloomy  recess  as  far  as  we  could  go 
without  a  carriage,  but  the  path  to  the  ruin  is  only  fit  for  mules  or 
foot  passengers.  We  went,  however,  further  than  we  ought,  for 
it  was  so  late  that  we  made  out  our  way  with  difficulty,  and  this 
under  thick  shades  by  the  gleams  of  a  clouded  moon.  We  returned 
very  weary  and  very  charitably  disposed  toward  the  credulous 


APPENDIX  251 

peasantry,  considering  too  that  the  musical  contests  of  rival  owls 
were  at  the  same  time  making  night  hideous.  The  Magician  of 
the  Border  has  always  originals  in  view,  which  is  one  reason  that 
his  pictures  seem  always  about  to  walk  out  of  their  frames. 

I  had  great  pleasure  in  my  visit  to  this  famous  Minstrel,  not  only 
from  the  cordiality  of  my  reception,  but  from  seeing  him  look  so 
much  better  than  I  hoped,  for  his  health  had  been  very  indifferent 
before,  but  seems  now  quite  restored.  That  happy  pair  (then 
happy),  John  Lockhart  and  his  wife,  were  there, — indeed  her 
father  could  not  live  without  Sophie,  and  is  almost  equally  fond  of 
her  husband.  Poets  and  Prophets  were  said  to  have  been,  neither 
indeed  can  exist,  without  an  inspiration.  We  talked  of  that  most 
outrageous  affair  about  the  atrocious  Queen  which  raged  like  a 
pestilence,  and  was  spread  both  by  the  deceivers  and  the  deceived. 
He  said  that  of  these  fits  of  national  excitement  there  had  been 
various  instances,  though  none  so  extravagant  as  the  present.  He 
added  that  these  fits  had  always  a  crisis,  and  were  generally  suc- 
ceeded by  a  great  revulsion  of  opinion,  attended  by  shame  and 
remorse.  I  was  glad  to  have  his  sanction  of  my  own  opinion,  and 
the  end  has  justified  his  prediction.  People  here  who  from  the 
mere  spirit  of  party  (never  a  moral  spirit  had  supported  the  canon- 
ization of  Saint  Caroline)  are  now  so  much  ashamed  that  I  could 
not  be  so  cruel  as  to  remind  them  of  their  folly  or  worse.  Indeed 
the  party  begin  to  look  very  foolish  and  crestfallen.  They  had 
one  short  triumph  of  malignity  lately  occasioned  by  the  fatal  duel 
which  poor  John  Scot  brought  upon  himself  by  his  most  unwarranted 
and  outrageous  attack  upon  John  Lockhart.  John  went  up  to 
London  in  consequence  of  Scot's  telling  his  friend  there  that  he 
was  willing  and  ready  to  give  him  satisfaction.  When  Lockhart 
very  unexpectedly  made  his  appearance  in  London  John  Scot 
shrunk  from  the  contest  in  a  manner  which  in  the  fashionable  world 
was  considered  evasive,  as  poor  Scot  could  not  take  credit  for  hav- 
ing avoided  the  combat  from  a  religious  scruple.  He  began  to  feel 
most  bitterly  the  obloquy  that  must  follow  a  most  gross  and  unpro- 
voked insult  followed  by  an  evasion  from  either  making  a  due 
acknowledgment  or  having  recourse  to  the  usual  resource  for 
wounded  honor.  In  a  fit  of  desperation  he  flew  to  John  Lockhart' s 
friend  and  dragged  him  out  by  moonlight  to  find  means  of  recover- 


252  APPENDIX 

ing  the  honor  he  was  considered  to  have  lost.  Chrystie  fired 
purposely  past  him,  but  by  some  fatal  misapprehension  he,  Scot, 
continued  the  combat,  and  fell.  When  the  news  arrived  here 
Lockhart  fainted  upon  hearing  it,  and  was  with  difficulty  recovered. 
When  the  party  saw  he  was  so  sensitive  upon  the  occasion,  they 
spared  no  artifice  to  put  his  feelings  and  those  of  his  family  to  tor- 
ture. But  no  more  of  this  ungracious  theme.  Offences  must 
come,  but  woe  to  those  by  whom  they  come.  And  one  has  some 
shame  of  the  woe  in  resisting  them. 

At  this  moment  an  universal  shade  of  woe  hangs  over  Edinburgh 
from  a  very  different  cause.  Dr.  Gregory  is  gone,  lamented  by 
all,  and  has  left  no  adequate  successor.  I  mourn  for  him  not 
merely  as  a  person  I  always  admired  and  revered,  but  as  a  noble 
specimen  of  genius  and  unblemished  virtue,  cast  in  a  most  peculiar 
mould.  .  .  .  What  an  ancestry  he  had  to  look  back  had  not  his 
own  individual  greatness  been  sufficient.  On  his  Father's  side  a 
race  of  Sages  and  Saints,  eminent  for  science  and  beloved  for  good- 
ness. He  was  the  fifth  distinguished  Gregory  of  his  line  —  I 
mean  in  the  paths  of  science.  That  ancestor  who  was  the  favored 
friend  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton  had  three  sons  who,  at  the  same  time, 
held  the  three  mathematical  chairs  of  Oxford,  Edinburgh,  and 
Aberdeen.  Dr.  Gregory's  mother  was  a  daughter  of  Lord  Forbes, 
the  eldest  Scotch  Baron.  On  that  side  nobles  and  heroes  graced 
the  line  to  which  he  gave  additional  lustre.  He  was  not  a  man  to 
die  rich,  but  added  to  the  inheritance  of  such  a  name  his  family 
will  have  what  will  support  them.  Very  rich  he  might  have  been. 

You  mentioned  in  your  letter  the  possibility,  or  more,  of  your 
being  here  in  the  Spring,  and  perhaps  this  letter  may  miss  you.  It 
is  sent  by  a  very  amiable  person,  the  Rev.  Matthias  Bruen,1  whom 
you  would  like  very  much  if  you  knew  him,  and  who  has  contrib- 
uted, with  others  you  know,  to  leave  a  most  favorable  impression 

1 A  clergyman  who  for  many  years  was  in  charge  of  the  Bleecker  Street  Pres- 
byterian Church,  New  York.  His  widow  survived  until  the  last  decade  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  and  a  short  time  before  her  death  Mrs.  Bruen  sent  her  grand- 
daughter, now  the  wife  of  Admiral  Beaumont,  R.N.,  for  a  certain  small  box,  and 
taking  from  it  a  sheaf  of  silvered  hair,  presented  it  to  her  friend  Mrs.  Pruyn  of 
Albany.  Mrs.  Grant  had  cut  it  off  and  given  it  to  Mrs.  Bruen  more  than  half  a 
century  previous.  A  part  of  it  is  among  my  most  valued  relics. 


APPENDIX  253 

of  the  American  character  among  us.  I  assure  you  it  never  stood 
so  high  as  it  does  at  present.  Mr.  Ticknor,  Mr.  Preston,  and 
yourself  are  tenderly  remembered  and  often  inquired  after,  especially 
by  the  whole  of  the  Clan  Fletcher.  Indeed  among  all  our  friends 
the  Sketch  Book  has  greatly  increased  this  prepossession.  It  is 
universally  read  and  admired  beyond  measure.  In  short,  I  think 
we  are  all  very  much  inclined  at  present,  like  good  old  people  as 
we  are,  to  dote  on  our  grand-children  in  the  western  world. 
Now,  if  they  had  any  such  sympathy  as  that  Milton  tells  us  of, 
Eve's  shadow  in  the  Lake  which  came  forward  to  meet  her  with 
answering  looks  of  love,  all  would  be  well.  But  while  you  are  all 
seduced  from  your  first  and  best  love  by  the  godless  gaieties  and  the 
dreaming  and  sceptical  metaphysics  of  Germany,  we  hope  in  vain 
to  attract  you.  There  is  a  very  fine  young  man  here  now  whom 
I  and  every  one  else  admires  very  much  —  a  Mr.  Middleton  from 
South  Carolina,  very  cultivated,  with  pleasing  manners,  but  I  fear, 
like  all  from  the  Southern  states,  no  true  Anti-Gallican. 

If  you  came  here  now  you  would  be  astonished  at  the  extension 
and  improvement  of  Edinburgh  since  you  saw  it.  The  Fletchers  x 
are  well,  and  frequent  in  their  inquiries  for  you.  Now  you  must 
write  immediately,  and  tell  me  a  great  deal  about  Mr.  Ticknor,  to 
whom  I  will  address  a  few  lines  by  Mr.  Bruen,  if  he  does  not  go 
till  the  mail-coach  departs  to-morrow.  In  any  event  I  will  write 
to  him  soon.  You  will  be  sorry  to  hear  that  my  poor  Moore  has 
lost  during  the  winter  all  that  she  gained  in  summer.  But  I  hope 
this  season  will  do  much  for  her.  She  shall  not  be  another  winter 
in  this  climate,  if  God  graciously  pleases  to  spare  her  to  me.  All 
the  rest  are  well,  and  I  look  forward  with  humble  hope  to  a  com- 
plete recovery,  though  still  a  prisoner  of  hope.  Accept  the  cordial 
good  wishes  of  the  whole  family,  also  of  all  the  Fletchers,  and 

1  Mrs.  Grant  and  Mrs.  Eliza  Fletcher  (1770-1858)  were  the  two  most  dis- 
tinguished literary  ladies  of  Edinburgh,  who  received  visits  from  almost  all  strangers 
of  note.  Both  were  fine  conversationalists.  Mrs.  Grant,  an  extreme  Tory, 
rejoiced  in  a  wide  Tory  coterie,  and  Mrs.  Fletcher,  an  equally  staunch  Whig,  was 
surrounded  by  a  large  Whig  circle,  but,  notwithstanding  their  differing  politics,  they 
were  most  cordial  and  sincere  friends.  The  latter  was  a  lovable  lady,  who  seems, 
according  to  her  portraits  at  fifteen  and  eighty,  to  prove  that  there  is  a  beauty  for 
every  age.  Her  surviving  child,  the  widow  of  Sir  John  Richardson,  the  Arctic 
explorer,  edited  her  mother's  autobiography.  8vo,  London,  1874. 


254  APPENDIX 

others  whom  I  cannot  enumerate.   Offer  the  same  to  Mr.  Ticknor, 
and  believe  me,  with  esteem  and  affection, 

Yours  truly,  ANNE  GRANT. 

ioi   PRINCES  STREET,  June  24,  i8ai. 

MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  When  my  mind  is  easier,  I  will  endeavor  to 
write  you  an  entertaining  letter,  not  depending  on  the  exertion  of 
my  own  powers,  but  from  having  the  means  of  telling  you  much 
of  a  tribe  and  people,  both  which  I  give  you  credit  for  remembering 
very  kindly.  At  present  my  communications  must  be  very  limited, 
even  confined  to  that  domestic  circle  by  which  as  by  some  magic 
spell  my  thoughts  have  been  for  some  time  circumscribed.  I  can- 
not tell  you  of  moving  accidents  of  flood  and  field,  like  poor 
Othello,  nor  yet  of  those  strange  people  who  each  other  eat,  though 
I  could  tell  you  of  several  who  seemed  much  inclined  to  do  so,  and 
of  many  singular  characters  which  came  in  my  way  last  summer.  I 
must  allow  that,  however  singular  in  other  respects,  their  heads  do 
grow  above  their  shoulders,  and  very  extraordinary  heads  some  of 
them  are.  Certainly  I  could  make  an  amusing  letter  of  the  trans- 
actions of  last  summer  if  I  were  not  obliged  to  furnish  a  very  sombre 
one  from  the  events  succeeding  these  pleasant  scenes  and  people 
which  memory  delights  to  cherish.  When  then  after  my  most 
quiet  and  enjoyable  residence  at  sweet  pastoral  MofFat,  where  I 
wish  much  you  had  seen  me,  and  where  I  cultivated  an  intimacy 
with  Dr.  Ryerson,  a  wonderful  evergreen  sage,  who  flourished 
nearly  fifty  years  as  first  physician  in  the  great  court  of  not  good 
Catherine  and  that  of  her  mad  grandson  of  Russia.  I  have  rarely 
met  at  any  time  with  a  person  of  such  a  sound  and  lively  intellect 
—  well  bred,  well  informed,  and  most  particularly  judicious  in 
laying  among  his  humble  friends  in  Dumfries  the  fruits  of  his  own 
industry,  and  the  munificence  of  his  Imperial  mistress.  I  wish  I 
could  tell  you  of  a  fortnight  I  spent  at  Gen.  Direm's,  at  his  beautiful 
seat  at  Mount  Annan,  which  overlooks  the  Solway  Firth,  and  where 
I  met  some  much  valued  companions  of  my  early  days,  meanwhile 
feeling  that  my  dear  Moore  was  getting  better  ;  and  that  my  no 
less  dear  Isabella  and  she  were  very  much  enjoying  the  calm  delights 
of  Moffat  gave  me  spirit  to  relish  every  circumstance  contributing  to 
enjoyment.  In  the  beginning  of  September  I  came  down  a  month 


APPENDIX  255 

before  they  returned  to  show  Edinburgh  to  a  very  pleasing  guest 
from  Ireland,  who  here  made  a  pilgrimage  from  Harrowgate  to  see 
me.  After  giving  ten  days  to  her  I  went  to  Roxburgh,  where  for 
years  past  I  promised  to  visit  an  old  friend  at  Jedburgh  and  where 
I  passed  a  fortnight  in  wakening  dreams  and  reveries  in  that  land  of 
recollections  where  the  Tweed  and  Teviot  flow  through  the  greenest 
pastoral  vales  sung  by  the  sweetest  of  pastoral,  really  pastoral  poets. 
While  the  dark  heaths,  the  battlefields  of  old,  renowned  in  Scottish 
classics  and  heroic  ballads,  as  well  as  the  fine  remains  of  castles 
and  abbeys,  preserve  the  memory  of  sages,  saints,  and  patriot, 
heroes  that  live  in  every  truly  Scottish  breast.  But  I  cannot  wait 
to  describe  my  pilgrimage  through  this  land  of  memorials  or  how  high 
my  national  spirit  soared  when  I  came  to  the  spot  consecrated  of 
old  and  rising  in  renewed  celebrity  — 

"  Where  Tweed  flows  round  holy  Melrose, 
And  Eldon  slopes  to  the  plain." 

I  did  indeed  think  the  scene  very  sad  and  fair,  and  required  all  the 
fraternal  cordiality  with  which  I  was  received  at  Abbotsford  to  re- 
vive my  spirits.  I  never  saw  the  Great  Magician  look  so  well, 
and  regretted  that  I  deferred  my  visit  till  my  return  homewards, 
when  my  time  was  very  limited. 

You  will  probably  have  heard  of  John  Wilson's  violent  struggle 
for  the  chair  of  moral  philosophy  and  of  his  ultimate  success.1 
Sir  William  Hamilton  was  the  unsuccessful  candidate,  though  very 
well  qualified  and  abounding  in  friends,  but  the  Scotchman  had 
loaded  poor  John  with  so  many  slanderous  accusations  that  proved 

l  Mrs.  Grant  contributed  to  "  Christopher  North's  "  success  by  writing  a 
strong  letter  in  his  behalf,  dwelling  particularly  on  his  excellent  private  character, 
which  had  been  attacked.  It  was  to  the  Professor  that  our  author  was  indebted 
for  the  title  of  "  Queen  of  the  Blue-Stockings."  Scott  on  one  occasion  said, 
"She  was  so  very  cerulean,"  and  Lockhart  described  her  as  "a  shrewd  and  sly 
observer."  Alluding  to  one  of  the  series  of  Scott's  novels  that  appeared  about  this 
period  (i8aa),  Mrs.  Grant  wrote  to  a  friend,  "  I  had  a  letter  informing  me  that 
'  The  Fortunes  of  Nigel,'  in  England,  is  accounted  a  failure.  Honest  John  Bull 
has  not  seen  such  a  failure  on  his  side  of  the  Tweed  since  Shakespeare's  time." 


256  APPENDIX 

unfounded,  that  he  was  elected  to  clear  his  character,  and  mortify 
his  enemies.  His  class  is  large,  and  his  lectures  said  to  be  very 
elegant.  Sir  William  next  winter  takes  the  historical  chair.  Per- 
haps I  do  not  express  it  right.  Prof.  Seresby  is  prosecuting  Black- 
wood  for  accusing  him  of  ignorance  in  the  Hebrew  tongue,  and 
Lord  Archibald  Hamilton,  the  Corypheus  of  the  Scotch  Whigs, 
prosecutes  the  Beacon  for  saying  that  he  and  his  brother,  the  Duke, 
deserted  their  part  at  Hamilton  last  year  for  fear  of  the  very  Radi- 
cals whom  their  croaking  had  encouraged.  As  they  actually  did 
run  away  the  trial  is  likely  to  be  a  merry  one,  at  least  his  Lord- 
ship, like  Falstaff,  will  be  the  cause  of  wit  in  others.  The 
Beacon  is  a  paper  offered  to  the  Scotchmen,  abounding  in  coarse 
humor.  It  is  the  Scotch  John  Bull.  Who  are  right  and  wrong 
in  this  contest  I  pretend  not  to  say,  yet  I  think  I  can  apprehend 
pretty  clearly  who  are  witty  and  who  dull.  Twenty  years 
ago  the  triumphs  of  intellect  were  all  on  the  side  of  the  Whigs. 
They  said,  "  We  are  the  People,  and  Wisdom  shall  die  with 
us."  Many  of  these  meteors  have  been  quenched  in  the  darkness 
of  the  grave,  and  the  few  survivors  are  grown  worldly,  dry  and  dull 
enough.  The  light  troops  of  imagination  seem  all  engaged  on  the 
other  side,  and  the  rising  brood  of  young  Tories  sparkle  with  no 
common  effulgence.  The  King's  promised  visit,  if  it  takes  place, 
will  increase  the  number  of  deserters  from  the  ancient  faith.  They 
will  be  stigmatized  as  Rats,  but  will  find  comfort  in  supposing  that 
their  adversaries  look  as  small  as  mice  on  that  occasion.  Tom 
Hamilton,  Sir  William's  brother,  who  is  the  O'Doherty  of  Black- 
wood,  was,  to  the  wonder  of  all  beholders,  married.  His  wife 
was  a  Miss  Campbell,  elegant  in  person  and  manners,  highly  cul- 
tivated, and  possessed  of  a  considerable  fortune,  of  which  the  stand- 
ard bearer  had  great  need.  Gillies,  to  whose  political  fame  you 
can  be  no  stranger,  has  gone  with  his  family,  by  way  of  doing  some- 
thing original,  to  Germany.  The  Fletchers  are  away  for  a  year's 
residence  to  Yorkshire,  on  account  of  some  old  Aunt  they  have 
there.  I  grieve  to  say  that  James  Wilson,  who  certainly  has  more 
real  genius  than  any  man  in  Edinburgh,  has  been  for  a  twelve- 
month past  with  his  sisters  in  Italy,  on  account  of  his  health.  They 
went  to  take  care  of  him,  but  he  is  coming  home  very  little  if  any- 


APPENDIX  257 

thing  better.  Tell  Mr.  Jay,1  with  my  compliments,  that  Miss 
Glassel,2  that  was,  who  lived  with  me  for  some  years  and  is  now 
Lady  John  Campbell,  has  a  son  who  will  some  time  be  Duke  of 
Argyll.  All  that  shire  was  in  a  blaze  with  bonfires  and  illumi- 
nations on  the  occasion.  You  will  receive  this  from  Mr.  Green- 
wood, whom  we  all  consider  a  very  pleasing  specimen  of  Transatlantic 
manners  and  abilities.  I  have  made  in  my  present  state  of  mind 
no  small  effort  for  your  amusement.  Pray  do  as  much  for  mine. 
You  know  how  many  of  your  fellow-citizens  are  to  me  most  in- 
teresting. Adieu,  dear  sir.  Accept  the  kind  regards  of  all  here,  as 
well  as  those  of 

Yours  very  truly,  ANNE  GRANT. 

1  Peter  Augustus  Jay,  eldest  son  of  Governor  John  Jay.      He  was  a  prominent 
member  of  the  New  York  Bar,  a  gentleman  of  many  accomplishments,  and  ex- 
ceedingly active  in  the  social  affairs  of  the  city  during  the  first   third  of  the  nine- 
teenth century.     As  a  young  man,  Mr.  Jay  accompanied   his  father  as  Secretary, 
when  he  was  appointed  Minister  to  the  Court  of  St.  James,  by  Washington,  in  1 794. 

2  Miss  Glassel,  who  spent  several  years  with  Mrs.  Grant,  and  later   married 
Lord  John  Campbell,  was  the  mother  of  the  eighth  Duke  of  Argyll,  who  expressed 
to  the  editor  of  this  volume,  both  in  conversation  and  correspondence,  much   admi- 
ration for  the  literary  ability  of  the  author  of  "  The  American  Lady." 


VOL.  II.  —  17 


258  APPENDIX 


CORRESPONDENCE    BETWEEN    MRS.    ALEXANDER 
HAMILTON   AND    MRS.    GRANT 

MRS.    HAMILTON    TO    MRS.    GRANT 

NEW  YORK,  June  13,  1834. 

DEAR  MADAM, — The  kindness  with  which  you  have  recollected  all 
your  early  associations  with  my  family,  and  the  interest  with  which 
your  genius  has  created  in  the  name  of  Schuyler,  have  prompted  me 
to  address  you  this  note.  You  will  perhaps  derive  pleasure  from 
learning  the  state  of  our  family.  My  brother  Philip  resides  in  this 
city,  in  easy  opulence,  enjoying  the  respect  of  the  community  with 
which  our  hereditary  disease,  the  gout,  does  not  permit  him  often 
to  mingle.  He  has  two  sons,  one  a  confirmed  bachelor,  the  other 
secretly  engaged  to  marry  with  one  of  my  granddaughters.  Philip, 
the  son  of  my  brother  John,  lives  at  the  family  seat  of  Saratoga, 
and  is  happily  married  to  a  beautiful  woman.  They  have  eight 
daughters  and  a  son.  My  brother  Rensselaer  resides  not  far  from 
him  on  the  upper  waters  of  the  Hudson.  My  only  surviving  sister 
married  Mr.  Cochran  and  lives  at  Oswego,  where  also  resides  a 
daughter  of  my  sister  Angelica.1  The  home  of  her  brother  Philip 

1  Among  a  sheaf  of  Mrs.  Grant's  unpublished  correspondence,  I  find  the  fol- 
lowing letter,  dated  New  York,  August  19th,  1811,  signed  "  Angelica  Church, 
born  Schuyler,"  and  addressed,  "Mrs.  Grant,  authoress  of  the  Memoirs  of  an 
American  Lady,  Edinburgh."  As  it  has  no  postmark,  it  was  probably  sent  by 
private  hand.  Mrs.  Church  writes :  "  I  have  read  with  so  much  pleasure  the 
Memoirs  of  my  aunt,  whose  virtues  and  manners  you  have  so  faithfully  delineated, 
that  I  feel  myself  impressed  with  a  fervid  desire  to  recall  myself  to  your  remem- 
brance. But  whether  you  recollect  or  not,  Miss  A.  Schuyler,  the  eldest  daughter 
of  Colonel,  afterwards  General  Schuyler,  she  remembers  with  endeared  recollections 
the  first  time  she  saw  you,  in  company  with  her  governess,  Mrs.  Ross,  at  the  old 
home  on  the  Flats.  She  then  felt  the  emanations  of  your  genius,  and  naturally 
contrasted  your  conversation  with  that  of  the  good,  but  unintelligent,  young  persons 


APPENDIX 


259 


Church  is  at  Angelica,  in  the  Geneseo  County,  where  he  has  been 
a  Judge  and  has  around  him  extensive  possessions,  a  charming  wife, 
and  many  children. 

At  the  age  of  seventy-six  I  am  still  in  the  enjoyment  of  perfect 
health,  seeing  my  sons  established  in  life  and  in  prosperous  circum- 
stances. Of  these  my  third  son,  John,1  has  recently  published  the 
first  volume  of  the  biography  of  his  father,  of  which  I  beg  to  pre- 
sent you  a  copy.  Although  it  relates  to  subjects  chiefly  of  Ameri- 
can interest,  yet  you  will,  I  hope,  find  many  things  to  amuse  you, 
showing  the  moral  and  intellectual  development  of  a  mind  always 
exerted  to  promote  the  honor  of  his  country  and  the  happiness  of 
his  fellow-creatures,  but  of  a  character  perhaps  too  frank  and  inde- 
pendent for  a  Democratic  people.  The  subsequent  volumes  will 
embrace  topics  of  high  national  interest  and  display  traits  of  char- 
acter which  will  make  even  Scotland,  so  fertile  in  genius  and 
virtue,  proud  to  enumerate  him  among  her  descendants.  The 
work  you  will  see  requires  every  indulgence.  I  may  hope  if  it 
comes  before  the  Reviewers  it  may  not  receive  too  severe  a 
criticism. 


of  her  narrow  circle.  A  letter  from  my  nephew,  Mr.  Van  Rensselaer,  to  his  father, 
mentions  your  kind  inquiries  after  all  my  family  ;  let  this  also,  dear  Madam,  excuse 
me  for  wishing  to  know  whatever  relates  to  you  and  yours.  As  I  pass  many  hours 
at  Laggan,  and  always  visit  it  with  renewed  delight,  your  sorrows  are  my  sorrows, 
your  friends  and  occupations  are  mine,  and  the  "  Letters  from  the  Mountains" 
exalt  and  fill  the  mind.  But  they  make  me  sadly  regret  that  during  my  long  resi- 
dence in  London  I  did  not  know  that  Miss  MacVickar  was  Mrs.  Grant,  and  on 
the  same  island  with  myself,  or  I  should  have  braved  the  bad  roads  over  the  rude 
mountains  to  have  conversed  with  the  acquaintance  of  my  youth,  and  have  met  with 
her  in  the  performance  of  those  serious  duties  she  so  feelingly  describes.  If  ever 
you  do  me  the  favor  to  write,  pray  tell  me  sincerely  if  you  recalled  me.  There  has 
been  a  most  terrible  flood  in  your  former  Castle  Building  Estate,  Clarendon,  but 
what  gives  me  a  peculiar  interest  in  Clarendon,  it  is  made  classic  by  your  en- 
chanting pen.  Adieu,  dear  Madam,  whatever  taste  I  have  found  pleasure  in  your 
writings,  I  have  still  more  in  the  contemplation  and  example  of  your  excellence, 
and  with  many  recollections  of  times  long  past,  I  am,  etc.,  etc. 

1  John  Church  (1792—1882)  was  Hamilton's  fourth  son,  his  seniors  being 
Philip,  Alexander,  and  James  A.  A  second  Philip  was  born  the  year  after  the 
eldest  son  was  killed  in  a  duel  on  the  same  spot,  at  Weehawken,  where  Burr  shot 
his  father  three  yean  later.  In  calling  John  the  third  son,  Mrs.  Hamilton  pre- 
lumably  referred  to  the  living,  with  all  of  whom  the  writer  was  acquainted. 


26o  APPENDIX 

I  have  received  from  Mrs.  Douglas  Cruger  many  interesting  in- 
cidents concerning  you  to  which  I  have  listened  with  my  heart. 
Indeed,  at  our  age  we  can  only  enjoy  life  by  cultivating  our  affec- 
tions, and  in  no  mode  can  we  receive  more  lively  pleasure  than  by 
continuing  with  a  Christian  confidence  in  the  future  —  the  recol- 
lections of  the  days  of  our  hopes. 

With  sentiments  of  great  respect  and  regard,  I  remain,  dear 
Madam, 

Faithfully  yours,  ELIZABETH  HAMILTON.1 

P.  S.  —  Mr.  O.  Rich,  agent  for  American  books,  Red  Lion 
Square,  London,  has  received  instructions  to  deliver  the  volume  to 
your  order. 

EDINBURGH,  COATES  CRESCENT,   18  November,   1834. 
DEAR  MADAM,  — It  is  not  easy  to  say  how  much  I  was  delighted 
with  the  kind  feeling  which  dictated  your  most  welcome  and  grati- 
fying letter.      So  many  grateful   and  affectionate  recollections  of 

1  Born  but  two  years  after  Mrs.  Grant,  the  friend  of  her  early  days,  she  sur- 
vived her  for  sixteen  years.  When,  as  a  youth,  the  writer  visited  the  widow  of  the 
illustrious  Hamilton,  she  was  residing  with  a  daughter  in  the  city  of  Washington, 
and  was  then  in  her  ninety-seventh  year.  The  venerable  lady  was  much  affected 
at  meeting  with  the  godson  of  the  companion  of  her  childhood,  speaking  of  Mrs. 
Grant  and  the  Memoir  of  "  Aunt  Schuyler,"  with  the  warmest  interest.  "It 
is  eighty-six  years  since  Anne  MacVicar  and  Elizabeth  Schuyler  parted  as 
girls  of  thirteen  and  eleven,"  said  Mrs.  Hamilton.  Another  of  her  remarks  that 
has  been  cherished  in  her  visitor's  memory  for  almost  half  a  century,  was  made 
after  he  had  kissed  her  dainty  little  hand  in  bidding  her  a  final  farewell  :  "  It  may 
interest  you,  my  dear  young  friend,  to  remember  that  Washington's  lips  frequently 
pressed  the  same  hand  that  yours  have  pressed."  Writing  to  Miss  Harriet  Doug- 
las in  January,  1833,  before  her  marriage,  Mrs.  Grant  remarks:  "  There  is  a  lady 
in  New  York  who  was  my  playmate  in  childhood,  whom  you  may  chance  to  meet 
in  society,  Mrs.  Hamilton,  the  widow  of  the  distinguished  General  Hamilton, 
better  known  to  me  as  '  Betsy  Schuyler.'  There  were  three  sisters:  Angelica, 
elegant  and  dignified,  whom  I  used  to  look  up  to  with  great  awe  as  a  fine  lady,  and 
such  in  after  life  she  proved.  I  had  a  letter  from  her  twenty  years  since,  intro- 
ducing one  of  her  countrymen.  Then  there  was  Betsy,  good  natured  and  unpre- 
tending ;  and  Margaret,  very  pretty,  and  a  kind  of  wicked  wit.  I  have  a  sort  of 
pleasure  in  referring  to  this  gossip  of  early  days.  I  never  forget  one  of  those  once 
familiarly  known  to  me,  and  would  not  like  to  be  forgotten  by  them." 


APPENDIX  261 

your  family  have  accompanied  me  through  life  that  to  think  that  at 
this  advanced  period  I  still  continue  to  excite  any  interest  like 
that  which  I  feel  for  those  to  whom  I  have  owed  much  of  life's 
best  comforts  and  enjoyments,  soothes  the  decline  of  a  life  in 
which  the  severest  sufferings  were  mingled  with  the  purest  enjoy- 
ments indulged  to  mortals.  What  has  been  said  of  the  French 
emigrants  by  way  of  reproach,  that  they  forgot  nothing,  may  be 
truly  said  of  me.  That  they  learnt  nothing,  I  hope  is  less  appli- 
cable. I  hope  the  wholesome  chastening  of  affliction  has  not  been 
lost  on  me.  I  remember  most  accurately  all  the  little  intercourse 
I  ever  had  with  your  sisters  —  first  at  a  little  school  in  Albany, 
where,  I  suppose,  we  were  all  placed  more  to  keep  us  quiet 
than  for  any  other  purpose  —  then  I  remember  your  kindness 
in  calling  on  us  on  your  way  to  and  from  Saratoga  when  we 
lived  at  the  Flats.  I  remember  as  it  were  yesterday  the  awe  and 
admiration  with  which  I  looked  to  your  sister  Angelica's  early  air 
of  elegance  and  dignity  when  she  first  returned  from  New  York. 
We  returned  to  Europe  in  the  sixty-eight,  just  when  the  clouds 
that  presaged  the  Revolution,  which  proved  in  the  end  so  happy 
for  both  countries,  were  gathering  thick.  I  went  out  from  Aunt 
Schuyler's  to  take  a  final  leave  of  you  all  and  an  old  friend,  Mrs. 
Ross,  who  had  the  charge  of  you  and  of  whose  fate  since  I  never 
could  hear.  To  my  unpractised  eye  your  house  appeared  super- 
eminently fine  and  spacious.  The  little  brother  you  had  then  I 
hope  still  survives.  I  heard  with  much  interest  of  your  marriage 
with  that  highly  distinguished  individual  who  I  find  has  left  with 
you  sons  worthy  of  their  Father,  whose  merits  and  prosperity  are  the 
greatest  to  you  of  all  earthly  consolations.  It  gives  me  great  plea- 
sure to  hear  that  you  desire  consolation  from  still  higher  sources, 
and  that  your  exemplary  life  is  mentioned  with  applause  by  all  I 
ever  heard  speak  of  you. 

I  once  had  a  letter  from  Mrs.  Church  introducing  her  nephew, 
who  was  here  for  a  good  while,  and  have  seen  a  little  of  the  other 
young  Rensselaer  during  their  short  stay  here,  and  once  of  Mrs. 
Church,  then  residing  in  Paris,  who  came  to  see  me  ;  thus  my 
frequent  inquiries  after  you  all  still  kept  present  to  my  mind  the 
early  years  of  happiness  and  improvement,  for  both  which  I  am 
chiefly  indebted  to  your  excellent  Aunt  Schuyler,  whom  I  was 


262  APPENDIX 

wont  fondly  to  call  mine.  She  admitted  me  at  a  childish  age  into 
a  companionship  very  unusual  in  such  a  disparity  of  years,  and  her 
cordial  kindness  in  treating  me  above  my  years  produced  in  my 
mind  a  solidity  of  thought  and  a  habit  of  reflection  not  usual  in 
the  early  spring  of  life,  which  may  have  been  an  advantage  to 
an  active  mind  at  home.  I  saw  nothing  but  uprightness  and 
piety.  By  the  bye,  I  saw  in  a  Transatlantic  publication  a  mistake 
about  my  Father's  occupation,  not  of  the  smallest  consequence 
further  than  it  recalls  to  my  mind  a  stirring  period  in  which  he  was 
concerned.  He  was  a  subaltern  officer  in  the  55th,  and  a  kind  of 
favorite  with  your  Father,  at  whose  desire  he  was  appointed  Muster 
Master  to  the  troops  raised  in  New  England  and  New  York  at  the 
time  of  the  Indian  war,  which  broke  out  after  the  general  peace. 
I  am  exceedingly  glad  to  hear  that  you  have  a  brother  living  in 
affluence  and  general  esteem  so  near  you.  The  gout  which 
detracts  from  his  enjoyments  had,  I  thought,  been  quite  a  Euro- 
pean disease.  The  rheumatism,  I  supposed,  simply  supplied  its 
place  with  you.  I  am  glad  to  hear  of  his  son's  proposed  marriage. 
It  would  be  a  pity  the  direct  male  line  should  not  be  continued. 
I  can  easily  suppose  the  family  seat  at  Saratoga  by  this  time  improved 
into  a  princely  residence.  I  see  Mr.  Church  has  piously  perpetuated 
his  mother's  name  in  the  place  of  his  residence.  Your  nephew  seems 
likely  to  rear  a  large  supply  of  beauty  to  enrich  my  early  residence.  I 
spent  most  of  my  sixth  year  at  Oswego  when  it  was  merely  a  fort,  and 
the  first  thing  that  attracted  my  regard  was  a  cow,  the  only  existing 
one  on  that  side  of  Johnson  Hall.  My  surprise  and  admiration  is 
continually  renewed  by  the  accounts  I  hear  of  rapid  population 
and  splendid  improvements  in  that  boundless  forest  that  I  remem- 
ber. Your  countrymen  have  indeed  made  the  wilderness  to  blossom 
as  the  rose.  Your  wide  extending  populations  and  towns  that 
rise  like  exhalations  excite  no  little  wonder,  not  to  say  envy, 
here.  A  hardy  and  adventurous  population  not  tied  down  to 
fond  localities  and  associations  seem  so  made  to  promote  the  task 
of  spreading  knowledge  and  population  over  so  ample  a  portion 
of  the  globe,  refinement  will  follow  too  soon  for  peace  or  exer- 
tion. At  present  it  might  prove  only  a  stumbling-block  in  the  way 
of  the  vigor  and  dexterity  that  surmounts  so  many  difficulties  with  a 
speed  that  appears  to  us  unendible,  limited  as  we  are  by  the 


APPENDIX  263 

boundaries  of  our  comparatively  little  island.  Many  of  us  look 
eagerly  forward  to  sharing  your  privileges  of  immeasurable  space 
and  unbounded  freedom.  I  hardly  suppose  the  Fathers  of  the 
Revolution  contemplated  anything  like  equality  such  as  seems  the 
object  of  general  aspiration  with  you,  and  in  which  our  lower 
class  begin  very  fast  to  emulate  yours.  Such  certainly  were  not 
the  views  of  Generals  Washington  and  Hamilton,  and  it  does 
not  appear  that  any  of  their  successors  have  been  braver  or  wiser. 
There  is  one  family  of  your  alliance  that  I  cannot  trace  —  that 
of  Courtlandt  Schuyler.  He  was  a  captain  in  our  army,  and  mar- 
ried a  good  little  Irishwoman.  When  I  came  away  our  good 
Aunt,  who  like  the  Popes,  indulged  much  in  hospitality,  had  taken 
the  eldest  boy,  the  little  Courtlandt,  a  child  of  five,  to  domesticate 
with  her.  I  met  in  England  our  favorite  niece  Mrs.  Low  in  the 
undesirable  state  of  an  exiled  loyalist  with  no  liberal  substitute  for 
all  she  had  lost  and  left  behind.  I  met  also  one  of  Aunt's  nephews, 
the  son  of  a  favorite  sister,  Cornelius  Cuyler,  who  at  a  very 
early  age,  full  of  exuberant  spirits  and  boyish  playfulness,  was 
sent  as  an  ensign  into  my  Father's  regiment  —  I  mean  the  same 
regiment.  He  made  me  a  sort  of  plaything,  but  the  pleasure  of 
teasing  me  soon  ceased.  He  went  to  England,  with  his  regiment 
still,  sooner  than  myself.  At  least  fifty  years  ago,  when  I  was  on 
a  visit  in  Hertfordshire,  he  heard  and  came  a  good  distance  to  see 
me  and  bring  me  and  my  daughter  to  visit  him  at  his  newly  pur- 
chased estate  at  St.  John's  Hill.  He  had  a  very  pleasing  wife, 
Grant  by  name,  two  fine  youths  entering  upon  manhood,  and  a 
pretty  daughter,  who  just  married  the  rector  of  Wellwyn,  where 
Young  died,  and  where  the  "  Night  Thoughts  "  were  born.  The 
Church  and  Rectory  were  very  near  the  house,  and  I  was  much 
urged  by  my  besetting  sin  to  remain  alone  and  indulge  myself  in 
some  thoughts  near  his  tomb  and  Lady  Betty's,  but  having  long 
lived  under  a  strict  regimen  of  self-denial  I  contented  myself 
with  admiring  Lady  Betty's  needlework  on  the  altarpiece.  A 
large  vine  and  full  clusters  were  wrought  upon  fawn-colored  satin. 
Beneath  it  a  few  sheep  seemed  sheltered.  The  texts  inscribed 
were  :  "I  am  the  true  vine,  and  ye  are  the  branches,"  "  My 
sheep  hear  my  voice,"  etc.  General,  now  Sir,  Cornelius  Cuyler 
had  been  engrossed  in  a  successful  pursuit  of  ambition,  had  long 


264  APPENDIX 

been  chief  commander  in  the  West,  and  was  in  short  like  the  first 
Thane  of  Cawdor,  a  prosperous  gentleman.  But  it  did  not  appear 
that  Albany,  with  its  attractions  and  endearments,  lived  nearly  so 
fresh  in  his  memory  as  it  did  in  mine.  He  was  become  a  grave, 
rich,  worldly  man,  and  took  little  delight  in  my  lively  reminiscences. 
His  sons,  I  think,  are  in  the  army.  People  in  this  country,  even 
of  distinction,  are  so  much  at  a  loss  what  to  do  with  their  sons. 
One  of  the  most  enviable  advantages  you  possess  over  us  is  that  you 
have  ample  room  and  scope  enough  to  establish  your  sons  in  your 
own  boundless  country,  while  the  tenderest  Mothers  wait  anxiously 
for  the  power  of  sending  their  sons  to  encounter  all  the  dangers 
of  those  fatal  climates,  from  which  so  few  return.  Years  elapsed 
during  which  I  could  not  see  without  shrinking  the  name  of  that 
country  where  my  beautiful,  my  brave,  perished  in  the  bloom  of 
his  years  and  of  his  virtues.  Of  my  daughters  I  will  only  say  that 
with  every  external  advantage  of  form,  with  more  than  com- 
mon capacities,  and  all  that  a  mother  could  hope  or  pray  for,  they 
were  prematurely  ripened  for  the  tomb.  They  indeed  gave  their 
Mother  grief  but  when  they  died.  Yet  do  not  call  me  Mara.  I 
did  feel  bitterly  when  all  these  faded  in  succession,  but  I  was 
enabled  to  bear  these  strokes  silently  and  consider  that  their 
constitutional  fragility  and  great  delicacy  of  mind  fitted  them  so  ill 
for  the  rough  world  they  might  have  to  encounter,  as  removed  from 
the  evil  to  come,  and  safely  sheltered  in  that  peaceful  harbor 
towards  which  their  earliest  aspirations  were  directed.  If  the  sym- 
pathies and  kindness  of  the  worthy  and  excellent  could  alleviate, 
and  they  did  soften  the  sense  of  these  privations,  all  that  my  fellow 
beings  could  do  they  did.  I  have  known  many  whom  it  was  an 
honor  as  well  as  a  pleasure  to  know.  Now  my  son  and  his  wife 
do  all  that  is  possible  to  cheer  my  decline,  and  I  am,  I  hope, 
truly  thankful  for  what  remains. 

I  should  sooner  have  acknowledged  the  great  favor  of  yours,  but 
have  waited  till  last  week  for  the  arrival  of  the  Memoirs  which  your 
son  has  undertaken  the  pious  task  of  arranging  and  thus  doing  honor 
both  to  himself  and  to  the  parent  whose  memory  reflects  so  much 
lustre  on  his  descendants.  I  immediately  wrote  with  directions  to 
deliver  the  volume  to  a  friend  of  mine  in  London.  Happening  about 
that  time  to  go  to  a  distant  part  of  the  country  where  I  staid  three 


APPENDIX  265 

months,  I  found  it  had  come  to  Edinburgh  in  my  absence,  and  I 
am  now  engaged  in  reading  it  with  more  interest  than  many  others 
could,  from  the  assistance  I  derive  from  my  recollection  of  what 
caused  so  much  suffering  and  produced  so  much  to  us  as  well  as  to 
you.  I  will  not  affect  any  modesty  about  style  ;  for  I  think  the 
best  authors  and  the  best  conversation  have  in  this  respect  made  me 
a  tolerable  judge.  To  me  the  book  seems  to  possess  every  advan- 
tage that  many  perspicuous  and  unaffected  languages  can,  and  quite 
free  of  that  finery  which  I  consider  my  old  friends  to  have  borrowed 
from  the  French,  our  new  friends.  Have  the  goodness,  dear 
Madam,  to  transmit  my  best  acknowledgments,  and  to  believe  that 
I  am,  with  much  gratitude  for  your  kind  letter, 

Dear  Madam,  yours  with  respect  and  esteem, 

ANNE  GRANT. 


266  APPENDIX 


LETTERS   TO   MRS.  DOUGLAS   CRUGER   OF 
NEW   YORK 

EDINBURGH,  9th  February,  1837. 

MY  DEAR  HARRIET,  —  Your  compliments  are  not  acceptable  to 
a  spirit  in  much  need  of  all  the  consolation  that  real  and  well-tried 
friendship  can  give.  I  have  read  your  letter  at  last,  with  some 
attention,  which  I  could  not  do  when  it  arrived,  my  whole  mind 
being  occupied  with  my  son's  full  cup  of  fear  about  his  dear  wife's 
protracted  illness.  She  has  had  the  influenza,  which  rages  here  like 
a  plague,  and  has  already  cost  many  valuable  lives,  though  I  hope 
hers  (the  subject  of  many  prayers)  is  now  out  of  danger. 

Your  cousin  Miss  Abercromby,  called  on  me  lately  with  some 
message  from  Lady  Abercromby,  and  without  intending  (for  she 
is  a  sweet  artless  creature),  won  my  heart.  She  seemed  gratified 
by  the  acquaintance,  and  said  she  would  come  often  to  see  me  if 
agreeable.  Both  in  her  instance,  and  in  that  of  a  younger  one  who 
came  here,  I  was  struck  with  the  frugal  simplicity  of  dress  which 
is  now  become  fashionable  even  among  distinguished  young  ladies. 
Two  years  ago,  a  young  girl  of  ten  or  twelve  was  in  dress  just  a 
facsimile  of  her  mother  ;  now,  the  simplest  straw-bonnet,  in  the 
cottage  form,  shades  the  fairest  face,  and  the  homely  gray  tartan 
the  figure  is  mantled  in,  gives  you  the  idea  of  a  pretty  rustic  at  best. 
But  all  that  disguise  breaks  off  when  the  young  lady  appears  in  full 
dress,  as  Miss  Abercromby  did  at  a  late  Highland  ball,  where  she 
was  allowed  to  be  the  fairest  of  the  fair. 

I  am  glad  to  find  you  so  captivated  with  the  character  of  my 
Aunt  Schuyler.  You  cannot  form  to  yourself  a  better  model  of 
female  excellence.  I  have,  in  one  sense,  outlived  her  too  long ; 
that  is,  I  have  outlived  those  who,  at  the  time  the  book  was  writ- 
ten, remembered  her,  and  bore  testimony  to  the  fidelity  of  the 
picture.  An  odd  circumstance  occurred  when  I  was  in  London  in 
1 808,  about  the  period  of  the  publication  of  the  book.  You  know 


APPENDIX  267 

how  partial  1  had  ever  been  to  the  North  American  Indians,  over 
whose  injuries  and  oppressions  I  still  mourn.  My  respect  for  the 
pure  and  peaceable  doctrines  and  spotless  lives  of  the  Quakers  was 
much  heightened  by  their  just  and  upright  dealings  with  the 
Indians.  William  Penn  was  a  legislator  quite  to  my  taste,  admir- 
ing, as  I  did,  the  wisdom  and  humanity  of  his  ordinances.  It  had 
not  occurred  to  me,  or  rather  I  had  not  heard  it,  but  it  seems  the 
Governor  of  Pennsylvania,  the  last  William  Penn,1  had  come  over 
to  England  to  seek  rest  from  the  storms  of  the  Revolution.  He  was 
about  fifty  years  old,  with  the  genuine  dress  and  air  of  a  Quaker,  yet, 
with  this  gravity,  he  placed  his  affections  on  Lady  Juliana  Fermor, 
daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Pomfret,  a  young  lady  who,  on  account  of 
her  beauty  and  talents,  was  considered  the  ornament  of  the  British 
Court.  This  ambitious  flame  was  encouraged  by  the  lady's  mother, 
and  finally  by  herself.  It  was  settled,  as  usual  in  such  cases,  that 
the  boys  should  be  Quakers,  and  the  girls  of  the  National  Church. 
One  of  the  daughters,  who  proved  afterwards  a  distinguished  per- 
sonage, was  married  to  the  Hon.  William  Stuart,  Primate  of  Ire- 
land. She  took  some  pains  to  cultivate  my  acquaintance,  as  did 
several  others  of  the  same  very  agreeable  family.  I  was  rather  sur- 
prised at  all  this  kindness,  until  it  occurred  to  me  that  some  of  it 
might  be  owing  to  a  partiality  for  the  topics  in  my  American  book. 
Speaking  of  Quakers,  I  have  often  thought  it  something  odd,  that 
though  we  are  so  ready  to  acknowledge  the  merit  of  these  people, 
—  their  self-command  and  placid  manners,  —  none  of  us  would 
much  approve  of  having  a  son  a  member  of  that  amiable  fraternity. 
I  am  very  glad  for  your  own  sake  as  well  as  theirs,  you  take  so 
kindly  to  those  youths  whom  their  father  left  to  you  as  a  kind  of 
legacy.  The  more  our  best  affections  are  called  forth,  the  happier 
we  are.  These  are  the  treasures  of  the  heart,  and  may  prove 
invaluable.  I  remember,  on  coming  first  to  this  country  from 
America,  I  used  to  tell  people,  with  a  kind  of  triumph,  of  the 
certainty  of  always  finding  children  in  that  country  about  a  Dutch 
house.  Whether  they  were  their  own  or  not,  they  seemed  to  be 

1  John  (not  William)  Penn,  who  was  born  in  London,  14  July,  1719,  and 
died  in  Bucks  County,  Pennsylvania,  9  February,  1795.  His  beautiful  country- 
seat,  "  Lansdowne,"  is  now  a  part  of  Fairmount  Park,  Philadelphia. 


268  APPENDIX 

an  article  quite  indispensable :  whatever  enlarges  the  circles  of  our 
affections  must  add  to  our  enjoyments.  .  .  . 

I  have  over-written  myself,  and  merely  add  every  affection  for 
Mr.  Cruger  and  Mrs.  Hasell,  from 

Yours,  very  truly,  ANNE  GRANT. 

EDINBURGH,  gth  April,  1838. 

MY  DEAR  HARRIET,  —  I  am  beginning  to  make  a  feeble  attempt 
to  write  after  recovering  from  a  rather  dangerous  illness.  I  was 
tempted  to  make  this  a  kind  of  valedictory  letter,  but  having  an 
impression  on  my  mind  that  this  long  protracted  life  may  yet  con- 
tinue while  I  can  be  of  any  use  to  my  fellow-creatures,  I  will  not 
address  you  for  the  last  time.  I  was  very  much  gratified  to  find 
my  shadow  *  so  kindly  welcomed  by  my  American  friends,  partly 
on  my  son's  account,  who  was  eager  about  forwarding  it,  but  more 
particularly  on  that  of  Mr.  Watson  Gordon,  who  is  by  no  means 
a  mere  artist,  but  a  gentleman  of  refined  taste,  and  quiet,  unambi- 
tious character.  I  owe  something  to  the  picture  for  procuring  me 
the  pleasure  of  his  acquaintance.  He  wrought  con  amore,  and  was 
no  doubt  pleased  that  his  powers  should  be  distinguished  beyond 
the  mighty  waters  of  the  West. 

I  am  going  to  ask  some  questions  of  you,  but  before  I  begin, 
must  entreat  you  to  send  my  benediction  to  Mr.  Preston,2  who  has 
done  honor  to  himself,  and  given  me  great  pleasure  by  advocating 
the  cause  of  those  noble  creatures,  the  deeply  injured  Indians. 
Your  country  people  used  to  offend  me  very  much  by  the  apathy 
with  which  they  listened  to  all  I  could  say  of  these  "Stoics  of 
the  Woods."  Often  I  said  to  myself, — 

"  Forgiveness  to  the  injured  does  belong, 
But  they  ne'er  pardon  who  have  done  the  wrong." 

1  The  portrait  appears  at  a  frontispiece  to  this  volume,  for  which  it  has  been 
reproduced  for  the  first  time.  Another  of  Sir  John's  pictures,  painted  for  Mrs.  Grant, 
is  that  of  her  young  poet  friend  William  Wilson,  now  in  the  possession  of  his  son, 
General  Wilson,  of  New  York. 

a  William  C.  Preston  (1794-1860)  of  South  Carolina,  who  became  intimate 
with  Mrs.  Grant  during  several  years'  residence  in  Edinburgh  in  early  life.  Many 
letters  were  afterwards  exchanged  between  them. 


APPENDIX  269 

One  of  my  sweetest  recollections  of  my  venerated  Aunt  Schuyler  is, 
that  she  always  spoke  with  sympathy  and  kindness  of  the  Indians, 
thoroughly  understood  and  justly  appreciated  their  character.  .  .  . 

Tell  that  charming  writer  Mrs.  Jameson  1  that  I  (being  a  little 
prudish)  took  great  offence  at  seeing  so  much  beautiful  praise 
lavished  on  the  beauties  of  Charles  the  Second's  Court,  whom 
I  considered  no  better  than  they  should  be.  But,  afterwards,  her 
stricture  on  Shakespeare's  female  characters  delighted  me.  She 
invested  them  with  all  the  properties  that  I  had  long  studied  and 
admired,  without  a  hope  of  meeting  with  any  one  that  would 
understand,  far  less  explain,  my  feelings.  Pray  thank  her  for  me 
for  melting  the  frost  of  age  about  my  heart,  and  restoring  to  me 
the  delights  of  loving  and  admiring  excellence.  I  can  never  do 
her  any  good,  but  she  did  a  great  deal  to  me  :  thank  her  for  me, 
I  earnestly  entreat  you. 

With  a  confused  head  and  chilled  fingers,  you  must  make  allow- 
ance for  something  more  than  my  usual  incoherence.  I  understand 
well  who  the  daughter-in-law  of  the  late  Lord  Chancellor  Erskine 
was,  to  whom  you  referred.  She  was  a  Golden,  of  an  old  Scottish 
family  long  resident  in  New  York.  Who  has  not  heard  of  Cad- 
wallader  Golden,  the  clear-sighted  oracle  of  all  the  successive 
governors  of  that  Province?  Lady  Erskine  called  on  me  fre- 
quently when  she  was  in  Edinburgh.  She  was  accounted  a  per- 
son of  singular  mildness  and  prudence ;  she  was  beautiful,  and 
continued  to  be  so  for  a  longer  period  than  is  usually  allotted  to 
the  fair  Americans,  who  are  chiefly  a  kind  of  spring  flower.  I 
must  now  give  you  in  charge  to  tell  Mr.  Stephens,2  the  traveller 
in  the  Holy  Land,  with  how  much  pleasure  my  son  and  I  read 
his  travels,  or  whatever  else  he  calls  them.  We  thought  him 
quite  original  and  unpretending,  and  liked  very  much  his  respectful 
and  proper  mode  of  expressing  himself  on  sacred  subjects ;  not  pre- 

1  Mrs.  Anne  Jameson  ( 1797-1 860),  author  of  "  The  Beauties  of  the  Court  of 
Charles  II,"  "  Legends  of  the  Madonna,"  and  many  other  works  on  art,  was  then 
on  a  visit  to  the  United  States. 

2  John  L.  Stephens  ( 1805-1851),  who  wrote  many  interesting  books  of  travel, 
chief  among  them  being  his  popular  volumes  on  Central  America  and  Yucatan, 
perhaps  the  most  important  contributions  yet  made  by  any  one  writer  on  the  subject 
of  American  Antiquities. 


270  APPENDIX 

tending  to  be  "wiser  than  what  is  written,"  as  the  poor  pretend- 
ers to  philosophy  invariably  do,  but  speaking  with  modest  reverence 
of  those  things  "  which  the  angels  desire  to  look  into."  We  give 
him  credit,  too,  for  a  talent  not  liberally  bestowed  on  his  country, 
men ;  I  mean  humor.  His  dinner  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile  with 
his  English  friends  diverted  me  exceedingly.  I  hope  success  will 
not  mislead  or  spoil  a  person  of  such  good  abilities  and  sound 
opinions. 

I  trust  this  letter  will  find  you  beginning  to  look  forward  with 
pleasant  anticipation  to  your  summer  retreat,  where,  if  a  wish 
would  waft  me,  I  should  like  to  meet  you.  I  hope  your  com- 
mercial panics  have,  in  some  degree,  subsided,  and  that  you  begin 
to  discover  that  an  alarm  of  this  kind  is  as  useful  to  the  general 
good  as  the  thunder  storm  that  clears  and  purifies  the  air.  If  we 
look  in  a  right  spirit  at  what  is  passing  round  us,  we  shall  daily 
find  the  Great  Alchymist  at  work,  producing  permanent  good  out 
of  transient  passing  evils.  For  instance,  the  obstructions  to  public 
credit  in  your  affairs  were  met  with  so  much  candor  and  good 
feeling  on  our  side  of  the  water  as,  I  think,  will  lay  the  foundation 
of  more  confidence  and  a  better  understanding  hereafter.  Then, 
with  regard  to  that  crazy  war  in  Canada,  the  fair  dealing  and 
sincere  desire  of  your  government  to  repress  the  attempts  of  the 
ignorant  mob  on  the  borders,  will  establish  friendly  and  confidential 
feelings  on  our  side. 

Deaths  have  been  fearfully  frequent  this  winter.  I  seldom  rise 
without  hearing  of  the  death  of  some  one  younger  than  myself; 
but  every  added  day,  if  it  is  well  spent,  is  an  added  blessing. 
I  suffer  no  pain,  have  equal  spirits,  and  take  pleasure  in  nameless 
trifles,  birds,  flowers,  etc.  If  more  months  or  years  be  allotted  to 
me,  I  shall  write  to  you  again.  My  true  love  to  Mrs.  Hasell,  and 
most  kind  remembrance  to  Mr.  Cruger.  Adieu,  affectionately, 
says  your  faithful 

ANNE  GRANT.* 


1  So  far  as  the  Editor  u  aware,  the  only  American  letter  of  later  date  than  the 
above  was  written  by  Mrs.  Grant  in  August  (she  passed  away  in  November),  to 
Mrs.  Jane  Sibbald  Wilson  of  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y.,  in  which  she  replies  to  an  in- 
quiry, "  My  mother,  nit  Catherine  Mackenzie,  was  not  a  connection  of  my  gifted 


APPENDIX  271 


LETTERS  TO   MRS.    GRANT   FROM   ROBERT 
SOUTHEY  AND   OTHERS 

Among  a  number  of  unpublished  letters  written  by  Mrs.  Grant's 
distinguished  correspondents,  the  following  are  selected  at  random 
from  the  originals,  in  the  writer's  possession.  The  first  is  from  the 
pen  of  William  Hayley,  the  friend  of  Gibbon  and  the  biographer 
of  the  poet  Cowper,  who  was  born  in  the  year  of  1745  and  died 
in  1820.  "The  sublime  Mr.  Hayley,"  Thackeray  calls  him 
in  his  Roundabout  Paper  "  On  Ribbons."  Hayley,  it  appears, 
was  considerably  worried  over  the  question  as  to  whether  he  or 
Cowper  was  the  greater  man.  In  an  epistle  to  Hayley,  included 
in  Mr.  Thomas  Wight's  collection  of  "  Unpublished  Letters  of 
William  Cowper,"  the  poet  says :  "  Whether  you  or  I  have  the 
most  genius,  I  know  not,  nor  care  a  fig.  God  gives  to  every  man 
as  He  pleases,  and  I  should  make  Him  a  very  unsuitable  return  for 
the  little  He  has  given  me  did  I  allow  myself  to  repine  that  He 
has  given  others  more.  And  now  that  I  have  once  called  you  my 
friend,  I  defy  even  you  to  shine  at  such  a  rate  as  to  excite  in  me 
any  other  sentiments  than  those  of  pleasure  and  congratulation." 

FELPHAM,  NEAR  CHICHESTER,  December  26,  1811. 
DEAR  MADAM,  —  I  trust   you   will  forgive  my  intrusion,  as  it 
arises  from   the  pleasure  you  have  afforded  me  by  your  writings, 
and  particularly  by  the   interesting    account   of  your   American 
lady.1 

and  good  friend,  Henry  Mackenzie  ;  "  alludes  to  a  recent  meeting  with  "  Christopher 
North,"  who  had  good-naturedly  called  her  "  Queen  of  the  Blue-Stockings;" 
expresses  the  hope  that  "  my  little  godson,  James  Grant,  is  growing  strong,"  adding, 
"  Please  purchase  for  him,  with  the  accompanying  gold  coin,  a  suitable  gift,"  and 
concluding  with  the  parting  words,  "  Farewell,  for  I  cannot  expect  to  linger  here 
much  longer." 

1  In  one  of  her  early  letters,  written  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  Miss  Mac  Vicar  re- 
marks that  whatever  culture  her  mind  had  received  the  owed  to  Madame  Schuyler, 


272  APPENDIX 

The  delight  you  felt  at  a  very  early  age  from  an  unexpected 
present  of  Milton  has  tempted  me  to  try  if  I  can  gratify  your  lively 
and  tender  feelings  by  a  similar  offering. 

"  In  childhood  thy  quick,  piercing  eyes, 

When  Milton  chanced  to  meet, 
The  stranger  bard  how  didst  thou  prize  ! 

His  Paradise  how  sweet  ! 
Hoping  thou  may'st  a  new  surprise 

With  equal  kindness  greet, 
To  thee  thy  grateful  fav'rite  flies. 

Behold  him  at  thy  feet." 

Accept   the  little  volumes  that  accompany  this    billet  as  a  kind 
though  a  petty  proof  that  your  talents  have  excited  esteem  at  the 
southern  extremity   of  our  island,  and   believe  me,   with   hearty 
good  wishes  for  your  happiness  and  for  your  literary  renown, 
Very  sincerely,  dear  madam,  your  friend, 

W.  HAYLEY. 

In  the  following  letter  from  Henry  Smyth,  Esq.,  of  Mount 
Henry,  Ireland,  is  contained  an  announcement  of  his  sister's  legacy 
of  a  thousand  pounds  to  Mrs.  Grant,  not  previously  mentioned  in 
this  volume,  as  a  mark  of  appreciation  of  her  admirable  character 
and  writings. 

MOUNT  HENRY,  September  7,  1814. 

MY  DEAR  MADAM,  —  My  lamented  sister  Isabella  having  left  a 
paper  behind  her  containing  her  wishes  upon  various  particulars, 

and  says,  "  Many  particulars  relative  to  this  excellent  person's  life  and  manners 
would  be  well  worth  preserving  ;  and  if  I  outlive  her,  I  think  I  will,  some  time  or 
other,  endeavor  to  please  myself  at  least  by  preserving  a  memoir  of  a  life  so  valuable 
and  important. ' '  As  has  been  seen,  thirty  years  passed  before  this  project  of  her 
youth  was  successfully  carried  out.  Writing  in  June,  1808,  to  Sir  Henry  Steuart, 
Mrs.  Grant  says  :  "  At  the  request  of  particular  friends,  I  have,  since  the  be- 
ginning of  this  year,  been  busily  engaged  in  preparing  for  the  press  Memoirs  of  a 
deceased  worthy  well  known  in  her  time  not  only  all  over  the  Continent,  but 
to  all  distinguished  persons  who  in  her  day  led  the  British  army  to  the  Canadian 
frontier.  But  I  shall  refer  for  particulars  to  the  Memoirs  themselves,  which  will 
Tery  soon  appear." 


APPENDIX  273 

and  as  those  wishes  are  to  a  certain  extent  considered  as  sacred  by 
her  family,  it  falls  to  my  lot  in  our  joint  names  to  desire  your 
acceptance  of  the  sum  of^iooo,  the  interest  thereon  to  com- 
mence from  the  first  day  of  next  August  at  the  rate  of  six  per  cent. 
I  must  take  the  liberty  of  assuring  you  that  the  disposition  entirely 
accords  with  the  feelings  of  every  branch  of  her  family,  that  we 
entertain  a  mournful  pleasure  in  offering  this  imperfect  testimony 
of  her  gratitude  and  esteem,  and  I  shall  consider  your  acceptance 
as  not  only  grateful  to  the  memory  of  the  departed,  but  compli- 
mentary to  those  who  survive. 

I  shall  await  your  commands  as  to  the  disposition  of  this  sum ; 
if  it  shall  suit  your  convenience  to  suffer  it  to  remain  for  any  time 
in  its  present  security,  I  shall  send  you  mine  or  my  brother's  bond 
for  the  principal,  the  interest  to  be  paid  half  yearly,  or  if  you  should 
judge  that  it  might  be  more  advantageously  vested  elsewhere,  I  shall 
take  immediate  steps  for  raising  the  money. 

With  the  warmest  wishes  for  the  family,  I  have  the  honor  to  be, 
my  dear  madam,  with  very  great  esteem, 

Your  faithful  and  affectionate  servant, 

HENRY  SMYTH. 

The  following  letter  was  addressed  to  Mrs.  Grant  by  her  friend, 
Robert  Southey,  perhaps  the  most  laborious  literary  worker  of  any 
age.  Who  that  had  the  privilege  of  listening  to  the  brave  words 
of  the  large-hearted  Thackeray,  on  the  occasion  of  his  last  visit  to 
the  United  States,  can  ever  forget  his  allusion,  in  the  course  of  his 
lecture  on  George  the  Third,  to  the  great  and  good  Southey  ? 
Writing  to  a  friend  in  1817,  Mrs.  Grant  says  :  "Southey  has  the 
finest  poetical  countenance,  features  unusually  high,  and  somewhat 
strong  though  regular,  and  a  quantity  of  bushy  black  hair.  I  have 
heard  Southey  called  silent  and  constrained  ;  I  did  not  find  him  so. 
He  talked  easily  and  much,  without  seeming  in  the  least  conse- 
quential, or  saying  a  single  word  for  effect." 

KESWICK,  24th  July,  1824. 

MY  DEAR   MADAME,  —  If  I  had  any  influence    with  Colburn, 
it  could  not  be  better  employed  than  on   this  occasion.     I  have 
VOL.  ii.  — 18 


274  APPENDIX 

never  had  any  communication  with  him  but  once,  which  was  many 
years  ago,  when  he  wrote  to  request  that  I  would  lend  him  a  por- 
trait of  myself,  to  be  engraved  for  his  magazine,  and  also  com- 
municate to  him  some  particulars  of  my  life.  It  happened  that  a 
most  methodistical  mis-likeness  of  me  had  been  exhibited  some 
little  time  before  in  the  "  European  Magazine,"  and  I  was  willing 
to  supersede  it  by  something  better.  I  told  Colburn  where  he  might 
borrow  a  bust  which  was  the  only  satisfactory  resemblance  that 
existed.  At  the  same  time,  I  stated,  in  as  few  words  as  possible, 
the  time  and  place  of  my  birth  and  the  course  of  my  education, 
saying  that  this  would  suffice  for  his  purpose,  and  that  the  public 
had  no  business  to  expect  anything  more  in  the  way  of  memoirs 
while  the  subject  in  question  was  alive.  Mr.  Colburn,  however, 
was  not  satisfied  with  this.  He  borrowed  the  bust  and  got  some 
one  to  attempt  the  impossible  task  of  making  a  portrait  from  it, 
which  he  engraved  as  an  original  picture  —  a  physiognomy  between 
assassin  and  hangman.  And  he  produced  a  long  memoir  of  my 
private  life,  evidently  written  by  some  person  who  must  once  have 
been  my  guest,  or  he  could  not  have  known  so  much,  and  yet  had 
been  in  no  degree  intimately  acquainted  with  me,  or  he  could  not 
have  made  so  many  grossly  erroneous  statements.  Of  course,  I 
thought  myself  ill-used ;  but  that  sort  of  usage  is  too  common  to 
excite  either  surprise  or  anger. 

This  has  been  my  whole  intercourse  with  Mr.  Colburn. 
Campbell  is  the  person  who  is  most  likely  to  have  influence  with 
him.  But,  surely,  you  can  stand  in  need  of  no  such  interference. 
There  has  been  but  one  opinion  of  all  your  writings,  and  they 
are  of  a  character  always  to  excite  as  much  interest  as  when  they 
were  first  published. 

As  to  the  form  of  publication,  booksellers  ought  to  be  the  best 
advisers.  To  me,  the  common  octavo  is  the  least  agreeable  form 
in  which  a  book  can  appear,  as  being  too  large  to  be  held  conven- 
iently in  the  hand  and  yet  not  large  enough  to  require  a  table. 
The  crown  octavo  is  a  much  pleasanter  size  ;  but  I  believe  the 
other  is  the  more  economical  way  of  printing.  In  either  shape, 
two  duodecimo  volumes  may  very  well  be  comprised  in  one  volume. 
When  the  books  are  published,  it  may  be  in  my  power  to  render 
them  some  little  service  ;  and  that  opportunity  I  will  gladly  take 


APPENDIX  275 

—  glad,  indeed,  of  any  occasion  to  show  with  what  sincere  re- 
spect I  regard  Mrs.  Grant  and  her  writings. 

Dear  Madame,  believe  me  yours,  very  faithfully, 

ROBERT  SOUTHEY. 


Miss  Baillie,  the  writer  of  the  following  letter  and  the  intimate 
friend  of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  who  frequently  spoke  of  her  as  "the 
immortal  Joanna,"  was  distinguished  as  the  author  of  numerous 
plays  and  poems  in  an  age  prolific  of  great  writers.  She  spent  a 
large  share  of  her  long  life  in  a  pretty  cottage  at  Hampstead,  near 
London,  where  she  died,  February  23,  1851  : 

HAMPSTEAD,  April  ia,  i8a8. 

DEAR  MADAM,  —  Though  with  no  disparagement  to  the  mem- 
ory of  your  young  mountaineer,  my  answer  to  your  obliging  letters 
shall  be  conveyed  to  you  in  a  more  direct  manner.  I  am  gratified 
by  hearing  from  you  and  having  an  opportunity  of  renewing  my 
acquaintance  with  a  member  of  your  family  ;  and  I  beg  you  to  ac- 
cept my  thanks.  That  the  stream  of  your  existence  —  which,  you 
say,  never  did  run  smooth  —  should  be  at  present  disturbed  by  the 
protracted  illness  of  Miss  Grant  I  am  very  sorry  to  learn  ;  but,  in 
the  skillful  hands  of  my  good  and  kind  friend,  Dr.  Thomson,  and 
the  favorable  season  of  the  year  before  her,  I  hope  you  will  ere 
long  have  the  happiness  to  see  her  restored  to  perfect  health.  Pray 
have  the  goodness  to  present  my  kind  remembrances  to  her,  in 
which  my  sister  begs  hers  to  be  included.  I  am  sure  Mrs.  Bail- 
lie,  who  is  at  present  pretty  well  and  recovering  her  wonted  spirits 
by  degrees,  will  be  pleased  with  your  mention  of  her,  which  I  shall 
take  care  to  communicate. 

It  has  given  me  pleasure  to  hear  that  you  are  interested  for 
Lady  Byron  and  can  do  justice  to  her  character,  which,  for  genuine 
worth,  disinterested  generosity,  and  Christian  forbearance  and 
charity,  is  one  of  the  most  excellent  I  have  ever  known.  She  has 
been  our  near  neighbor  in  Hampstead  for  nearly  a  year,  and  her 
occupation  has  been  to  assist  all  her  friends  who  have  any  claim 
upon  her,  in  every  way  in  her  power,  either  by  her  fortune  or  her 
interest.  I  wish  I  could  give  you  a  satisfactory  answer  to  your 


276  APPENDIX 

inquiries  as  far  as  her  health  is  concerned.  She  has  been  very 
unwell  and  confined  almost  entirely  to  the  house  all  the  winter, 
and  the  affliction  she  has  suffered  from  the  recent  death  of  her 
father  has  checked  her  recovery.  But  she  is  somewhat  better,  and 
proposes  soon  to  go  to  the  seaside,  which  I  hope  will  be  of  great 
benefit  to  her.  You  will  be  pleased  to  know  that  she  has  had  the 
comfort  of  having  two  of  her  oldest  and  dearest  friends  in  the 
house  with  her  for  some  months  past,  who  helped  her  to  cheer 
her  poor  father  under  the  weight  of  his  infirmities  and  supported 
her  in  many  various  distresses. 

1  am   glad  to  hear  from   your  son   that  Mr.  Mackenzie  l    con- 
tinues to  enjoy  such  good  health  at  his  advanced  age,  and  beg  to 
be  kindly — I  should  also  say  gratefully  —  remembered  to    him. 
Farewell    dear  Madam,  and  believe  me 

Very  truly  yours,  J.   BAILLIE. 

David  Stewart,  of  Garth,  writer  of  the  accompanying  letter,  a 
gallant  soldier,  and  Governor  of  the  West  Indian  Island  of  St. 
Lucia,  was  the  author  of  "  Sketches  of  the  Character,  Manners, 
and  Present  State  of  the  Highlands  of  Scotland,  with  details  of  the 
Military  Service  of  the  Highland  Regiments."  Sir  Walter  Scott 
says:  «'  Therein  Mrs.  Grant  of  Laggan  has  drawn  the  manners, 
customs,  and  superstitions  of  the  mountains  in  their  unsophisticated 
state,  and  my  friend,  General  Stewart,  of  Garth,  in  giving  the 
real  history  of  the  Highland  Regiments  has  rendered  any  attempt 
to  fill  up  the  sketch  with  fancy  coloring  extremely  rash  and  pre- 
carious !  "  2  Elsewhere  Sir  Walter  writes  :  "The  late  lamented 
General  Stewart,  of  Garth,  in  his  account  of  the  battle  of  Killie- 
krankie,  informs  us  that  Lochiel  was  attended  on  the  field  by  the 
son  of  his  foster-brother.  This  faithful  adherent  followed  him  like 
his  shadow,  ready  to  assist  him  with  his  sword,  or  cover  him  from 
the  shot  of  the  enemy.  Suddenly  the  chief  missed  his  friend  from 
his  side,  and  turning  round  to  look  what  had  become  of  him,  saw 
him  lying  on  his  back  with  his  breast  pierced  by  an  arrow. 
He  had  hardly  breath,  before  he  expired,  to  tell  Lochiel,  that  see- 

t  Author  of  "  The  Man  of  Feeling,"  "  Man  of  the  World,"  etc.  He  was 
born  in  1745  and  died  in  1831. 

2  Chronicles  of  the  Canongate. 


APPENDIX  277 

ing  an  enemy,  a  Highlander  in  General  Mackay's  army,  aiming  at 
him  with  a  bow  and  arrow,  he  sprung  behind  him,  and  thus 
sheltered  him  from  instant  death.  "This,"  observes  the  gallant 
David  Stewart,  "  is  a  species  of  duty  not  often  practised,  perhaps, 
by  our  aide-de-camps  of  the  present  day."  1 

GOVERNMENT  HOUSE,  ST.  LUCIA,  July  3,  1819. 
MY  DEAR  MADAM,  —  Far  from  friends  and  homes  as  I  am  here, 
one  of  the  best  sources  of  mental  satisfaction  is  rearing  as  it  were 
within  myself  and  thinking  of  them.  When  fatigued  by  business 
or  by  violent  exercise,  I  find  these  recollections  as  great,  if  not 
greater  relief  than  rest  to  the  body.  If  I  could  add  some  of  our 

(native  music  to  these  recollections  of  old  friends  and  past  times, 
the  recreation  would  be  complete.  But  a  person  must  be  long  and 
far  separated  from  friends  to  be  able  to  enjoy  such  a  mixture  of 
melancholy  and  pleasing  recollections  as  I  frequently  do.  For  sev- 
eral days  past  I  have  thought  much  of  you.  If  I  had  not  been 
so  much  in  the  world  and  forgotten  some  of  my  native  country's 
beliefs,  I  would  be  as  [illegible]  or  whether  anything  has  hap- 
pened, as  a  few  nights  ago  I  was  in  deep  conversation  with  you 
in  one  of  my  waking  dreams.  One  might  forget  such  things  in 
this  land  of  heathens,  of  pestilence,  of  slavery,  and  of  poisonous 
plants,  and  such  poisonous  ailments,  and  with  people  of  many  re- 
ligious beliefs  and  many  without  any  religion  or  belief —  and  of 
colors  as  various  as  their  religions,  some  having  no  color  at  all, 
being  white  as  this  sheet  of  paper,  and  the  rest  composing  all  the 
intermediate  shades  down  —  or  up  —  to  jet  black. 

In  such  a  country,  with  much  to  occupy  my  mind,  I  still  find 
my  original  attachments  and  recollections  unchanged.  With  these 
feelings  I  am  very  anxious  to  learn  if  you  are  in  good  health,  and 
a  letter  cannot  be  more  gratefully  received  than  by  me. 

My  official  duties  are  a  mixture  of  civil  and  military.  To-day, 
in  a  garrison  being  among  soldiers,  to-morrow  holding  council  and 
busy  making  new  laws,  also  mending  old  ones.  The  laws  of  France 
which  we  have  here  are  favorable  to  colonists  and  those  who  wished 
to  encourage  the  colonies,  made  them  more  so,  and  a  proprietor 

1  Preface  to  the  Fair  Maid  of  Perth. 


278  APPENDIX 

of  land  cannot  be  compelled  to  pay  his  just  debts  —  that  is,  his 
land  is  not  liable,  and  cannot  be  sold  for  debt  under  the  French 
laws.  The  Governor  has  great  powers.  This  I  now  exercise, 
and  hope,  as  I  intend,  to  good  purpose.  A  new  law  is  passed, 
and  every  man  must  now  pay  what  he  owes.  ...  I  have  to  beg 
the  favor  of  you  to  write  at  your  convenience,  and  do  let  me  en- 
treat that  it  may  be  a  long  letter.  It  is  only  those  who  live  at  a 
distance  that  can  fully  appreciate  the  satisfaction  and  delight  of  re- 
ceiving letters  from  dear  and  valued  friends. 
I  remain,  with  great  regard  and  esteem, 

Ever  faithfully  yours,  DAVID  STEWART. 

The  following  letter,  written  by  Professor  Andrews  Norton, 
(1786—1852),  author  of  an  admirable  article  on  Mrs.  Grant  and 
her  writings  contributed  to  the  "North  American  Review,"  in 
1845,  is  introduced  here  chiefly  because  of  the  truthful  indorsement 
by  Mrs.  Grant  which  accompanies  it,  —  "a  very  beautiful  letter 
from  Professor  Norton  of  New  England."  His  article  of  thirty 
pages  in  the  "  North  American,"  concludes  with  these  appreciative 
lines  :  "  We  have  succeeded  but  ill  in  these  imperfect  notices  of 
Mrs.  Grant,  if  we  have  not  given  the  impression  of  a  woman  of  ex- 
traordinary good  sense,  and  of  uncommon  powers  of  mind  ;  whose 
letters,  embracing  a  wide  variety  of  subjects,  are  as  truly  valuable 
as  those  of  any  other  writer,  and  likely  to  be  of  as  permanent  inter- 
est, and  to  afford  as  lasting  gratification  ;  but  especially  of  a  woman 
of  great  strength  of  character,  formed  by  religious  principle  and 
penetrated  by  religious  sentiment,  the  vital  principle  of  whose  moral 
being  was  faith  in  God  and  immortality,  whose  sympathies  were 
warm  and  diffusive,  and  who  was  full  of  disinterested  kindness." 

CAMBRIDGE  [NEW  ENGLAND],  Dec.  29,  1829. 

MY  DEAR  MADAM,  —  You  can  hardly  estimate  how  much  pleas- 
ure your  kind  and  cordial  letter  gave  Mrs.  Norton  and  myself. 
I  fear  you  will  think  it  strange  that  I  have  not  sooner  expressed  my 
gratitude  for  it.  I  have  twice  begun  a  letter  to  you  :  but  since 
receiving  yours,  I  have  been  suffering  from  almost  constant  ill 
health,  and  am  now  but  just  recovering  from  a  severe  fit  of  sick- 


APPENDIX  279 

ness.      My  health  promises  now,  I  think,  to  be  better  than  it  has 
been. 

It  was  a  great  satisfaction  to  have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  in 
Edinburgh.  It  is  among  my  choicest  remembrances  of  that  most 
interesting  and  beautiful  city.  We  had  long  known  you  through 
your  writings  and  through  our  common  friends ;  and  it  was  like 
meeting  one  with  whom  we  had  been  acquainted  in  youth,  and 
with  whom  were  associated  some  of  its  most  agreeable  recollec- 
tions. We  had  been  with  you  during  your  eventful  life  in  the 
Highlands  of  Scotland  and  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson.  The 
scenes  and  characters  to  which  you  had  introduced  us  are  such  as 
give  their  charm  to  life,  presenting  a  far  more  delightful  aspect  of 
the  world  than  that  which  appears  to  him  who  is  toiling  on  its 
frequented  and  careworn  highways.  It  was  delightful  to  find  you, 
in  old  age,  after  such  severe  trials,  so  supported  and  strengthened 
by  the  power  of  God  ;  not  resigned  only,  but  cheerful ;  possessing 
not  the  calm  benevolence  of  age  alone,  but  all  the  kinder  feelings 
in  their  freshness  and  flower,  which,  beautiful  as  they  are  in  youth, 
become  so  much  more  deeply  interesting,  when  we  know  that  care 
and  sorrow  have  had  no  power  to  wither  them,  and  that  they  will 
soon  form  a  part  of  that  crown  of  glory  which  fadeth  not.  If  we 
could  have  forgotten  the  blessings  which  God  has  for  a  time  taken 
to  himself  and  is  reserving  for  you  in  his  keeping,  we  might  have 
thought  of  you  only  as  one  — 

Whose  cheerful  day  benevolence  endears, 
Whose  night  congratulating  conscience  cheers, 
The  general  favorite,  as  the  general  friend. 

Your  meeting  with  Mrs.  Hemans,  and  still  more  your  parting 
with  her,  must  have  been  very  interesting  to  you  both.  Her  visit 
to  Scotland  was  to  her  highly  exciting  and  gratifying,  and  could 
not,  I  think,  but  give  her  an  impression  of  the  estimate  formed  of 
her  poetry  by  the  best  capable  of  feeling  and  judging  of  its  excel- 
lence, which  she  had  not  received  before.  It  must  have  been 
delightful  to  her  to  visit  a  country  so  peopled  with  romantic  asso- 
ciations, where  one  familiar  with  its  history  and  poetry,  and  pos- 
sessing the  gifted  eye  of  genius,  everywhere  sees  forms  and  hears 


28o  APPENDIX 

voices  which  another  cannot  perceive,  and  is  able  to  read  and 
understand  the  handwriting  on  the  ruined  wall  of  other  days.  But 
since  her  return  I  have  received  a  letter  from  her  apparently  writ- 
ten in  much  dejection  of  spirits.  They  are  greatly  affected  with- 
out doubt  by  her  very  uncertain  health,  by  the  fact  that  her  means 
of  support  depend  much  on  its  continuance,  by  the  gloom  which 
hangs  over  the  prospects  of  her  children,  by  her  unfitness  to  struggle 
in  this  working-day  world,  and  by  the  want  of  any  one  on  whom 
she  can  naturally  rely  as  a  household  friend  for  daily  encouragement, 
assistance,  and  strength.  She  is  as  much  an  object  of  compassion 
as  of  admiration  and  love. 

All  our  common  friends  in  this  country  —  though  it  is  a  very 
comprehensive  term  —  are,  I  believe,  well.  Mrs.  Norton  begs 
you  to  think  of  her  as  one  who  remembers  you  always  with  the 
sincerest  respect  and  affection.  Her  mother,  than  whom  few  ever 
had  more  power  of  attracting  others,  has  lately  been  taken  from 
us.  The  light  of  Heaven  shone  free  on  the  days  which  preceded 
her  death,  and  she  has  left  a  treasury  of  consolation  and  hope  to 
her  children.  The  little  traveller,  our  boy  Charles,  in  whom  you 
took  so  kind  an  interest  while  in  Edinburgh,  is  now  as  hearty  and 
rosy,  good  tempered  and  noisy,  as  any  boy  ought  to  be.  Our  two 
little  girls  are  well.  Miss  Guild,  who  is  on  a  visit  to  us,  desires  to 
be  respectfully  remembered  to  you. 

And  now,  my  dear  Madam,  farewell.  Accept  my  best  thanks 
for  all  your  kindness.  May  the  close  of  your  life  be  peaceful  and 
happy,  and  lead  you  gently  on  to  that  infinitely  happier  state  which, 
with  my  firm  faith  in  the  goodness  of  God,  I  can  have  no  doubt 
that  you  are  approaching.  Perhaps  you  may  find  an  opportunity 
to  gratify  and  honor  me  by  another  letter.  If  not,  will  you 
remember  me  as  one  who  thinks  of  you  with  the  highest  respect 
and  regard. 

ANDREWS  NORTON. 

The  following  "notelet,"  with  which  we  shall  conclude  our  selec- 
tions, was  written  by  Mrs.  Opie,  of  whom  Mrs.  S.  C.  Hall  said  : 
"  Her  manners  would  have  graced  a  court  and  not  encumbered  a 
cottage."  She  was  a  native  of  Norwich,  and  died  in  1 853,  at  the 
age  of  84.  Her  note  bears  this  indorsement,  written  by  Mrs.  Grant : 


APPENDIX  281 

"  From  Mrs.  Opie,  once  a  belle,  a  beauty,  and  an  authoress,  who  is 
remembered  as  the  author  of  «  The  Father  and  the  Daughter.'  She 
has  become  a  Quaker,  and  the  sect  are  very  vain  of  such  a  convert.' ' 

RESPECTED  FRIEND, — I  hope  I  shall  be  more  fortunate  than 
I  was  in  1816,  and  that  this  time  of  my  being  in  Edinburgh  I 
shall  be  able  to  see  thee.  I  intend  to  set  off  to-morrow  to  Perth, 
on  my  way  with  Mrs.  Fry1  and  other  friends,  to  the  General  Meet- 
ing at  Aberdeen,  and  thence  I  shall  go  to  the  Highlands  ;  but  I 
hope  to  be  here  again,  and  at  No.  2  South  Castle  Street  (where  I 
arrived  on  the  1 1  th  at  night) ,  and  here  I  mean  to  remain  till  the 
beginning  of  the  loth  month  [October].  On  my  return,  I  shall 
be  truly  glad  to  receive  a  welcome  from  thee. 

Thine  very  respectfully,  AMELIA  OPIE. 

SOUTH  CASTLE  STREET,  8th  month,  I3th,  1834. 

1  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Fry,  among  the  most  eminent  of  modern  philanthropists. 


282  APPENDIX 


THE   INDIAN    WIDOW.* 

Thy  looks  speak  compassion,  thy  language  a  friend, 
Yet  think  not,  kind  stranger,  my  purpose  to  bend  ; 
Nouraddin's  blest  spirit  awaits  me  the  while 
And  hovers  around  his  pale  corpse  on  the  pile. 

He  whispers  —  he  call  me  —  he  passes  like  wind  — 

Oh,  why  should  I  linger  in  anguish  behind  ? 

Through  this  desolate  Earth  should  I  wander  alone, 

When  my  light  was  all  quenched  with  Nouraddin's  last  groan  ? 

Beloved  and  endear' d,  in  his  shadow  I  dwelt, 
In  his  tender  protection  no  sorrow  I  felt 5 
As  our  souls  were  united,  our  pleasures  the  same, 
So  our  ashes  shall  mingle  and  hallow  the  flame. 

Like  a  vine  without  prop  shall  I  sink  on  the  ground, 
And  low  in  the  dust  spread  my  tendrils  around  ? 
While  the  beasts  of  the  forest  shall  trample  with  scorn 
The  plant  they  neglected,  despised  and  forlorn  ! 

You  tell  me  my  children  forsaken  will  pine, — 
(W^hat  a  wound  to  a  bosom  so  tender  as  mine  !) 
That  their  innocent  cries  shall  ascend  in  the  air, 
And  drown  with  their  clamor,  my  last  dying  prayer. 

Oh,  still,  my  loved  babes,  ye  cling  close  to  my  heart  ; 
But,  alas  !  with  your  father  I  never  can  part  ; 
Yet  Bramah,  in  pity,  my  truth  to  reward, 
Unseen,  will  permit  me  my  children  to  guard. 

Adieu,  gentle  stranger  !  Oh,  linger  not  here, 
Nor  force  me  my  triumph  to  stain  with  a  tear  ; 
The  flames  as  they  kindle  I  view  with  a  smile  — 
How  blest  when  our  ashes  shall  mix  on  yon  pile  ! 

1  The  original  manuscript  of  this  poem  was  presented  by  Mrs.  Grant  in  May, 
1819,  to  the  Editor's  father,  William  Wilson,  Esq.,  of  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y.,  who 
at  the  same  time  sent  Mrs.  Grant  his  lines  on  "  Richard  Cceur  de  Lion,"  said  by 
Bryant  to  be  "  more  spirited  than  any  of  the  ballads  of  Aytoun." 


APPENDIX  283 


LINES  ADDRESSED  TO  AN  AMERICAN  LADY 

"  I  was  born  where  men  are  proud  to  be  — 
The  inviolate  Island  of  the  Sage  and  Free." 

—  LORD  BYRON. 

AND  must  we  bid  a  last  adieu, 

Fair  Pilgrim  of  the  Western  clime  ? 
And  wilt  them  with  indulgence  view 

This  unpremeditated  rhyme 

That  bidst  thee,  ere  thou  leavest  her  strand 
O'er  Europe's  ancient  realms  to  rove, 

Bequeath  a  blessing  to  the  Land 
That  Science  and  the  Muses  love  ? 

Land  of  thy  Sires.     The  parent  stem, 

Whose  vigorous  branches  spread  so  wide  — 

Fair  freedom's  shrine,  Old  Ocean's  gem, 
Embraced  and  cherished  by  his  tide  — 

While  wandering  through  her  sacred  Fanes 

Did  no  low  whisper  meet  thy  ear  ? 
Where  sleep  thy  ancestors'  remains 

Didst  thou  no  aerial  voices  hear  ? 

Blest  in  thy  gentle  bosom's  Lord, 
Whose  every  care  and  wish  is  thine, 

Did  ye  not  bend  with  one  accord, 
As  listening  to  some  voice  divine  ? 

The  sounds  that  murmur  from  the  Tomb 

Die  indistinctly  on  the  air  ; 
The  pensive  Muse  can  pierce  the  gloom 

And  find  their  secret  meaning  there. 


284  APPENDIX 

Hear  her  in  mortal  strains  rehearse 
The  words  of  each  ancestral  shade, 

While  thus  in  rude  and  artless  verse 
Their  solemn  counsel  seems  conveyed. 

Welcome  from  o'er  the  Atlantic  wave, 
Blest  children  of  heroic  sires  ; 

Your  presence  in  the  silent  Grave 
Relumes  affection's  faded  fires. 


Tho*  on  your  happy  native  coast 

Her  banner  Liberty  displays  5 
Tho'  equal  Laws  you  justly  boast, 

And  Nations  envy  while  they  gaze  ; 

Tho'  earth,  in  virgin  bloom  arrayed, 
Her  lavish  gifts  profusely  pours  5 

Tho'  with  interminable  shade 
The  dark  primeval  forest  lours, 

That  forest  doomed  so  soon  to  yield 

Before  the  sturdy  sons  of  toil, 
Where  in  each  cultured  mead  or  field 

Shall  fruits  and  flowers  abundant  smile. 

For  you  a  brighter,  warmer  sun 

Sheds  lustre  thro'  a  purer  sky  ; 
Like  mighty  floods  your  rivers  run, 

And  plenty  to  their  stores  supply. 

Yet  from  these  bleak,  inclement  skies, 
Where  Winter's  lingering  chills  delay, 

Ye  bore  away  the  matchless  prize 
That  kindles  darkness  into  day. 

The  glorious  intellectual  light 

That  shone  from  Bacon's  wondrous  mind, 
That  played  round  Shakespeare's  varied  flight, 

And  Newton,  nature's  Priest,  enshrined  ; 


APPENDIX  285 

Thence  too  ye  bore  the  Torch  of  truth 
That  lights  the  Altar's  hallowed  fire  — 

The  hope  of  age,  the  guide  of  youth, 
That  heavenward  leads  us  to  aspire. 

While  Seraphs'  Hallelujahs  sing, 

While  Martyrs  bear  the  immortal  palm, 

The  heart  which  mortal  sorrows  wring 
Shall  find  these  truths  a  healing  balm. 

Then  while  through  gayer  scenes  you  rove, 
Where  pleasure  leads  the  laughing  hours, 

Bids  music  wake  in  every  grove, 
And  fancy  deck  her  Syren  bowers. 

Still  steadfast  holds  that  radiant  light 

That  pierces  superstition's  gloom, 
Puts  gay  delusion's  train  to  flight, 

And  sheds  its  lustre  o'er  the  Tomb. 

Think  kindly  of  the  far-famed  Isle 

From  which  your  sires  their  lineage  drew  ; 

So  may  the  Fates  propitious  smile 
When  you  your  happy  home  renew. 

May  friends,  a  kind,  unbroken  band, 

With  dewy  eyes  and  glowing  hearts, 
Receive  you  on  your  native  strand, 

And  fondly  meet,  no  more  to  part.1 

Written  below,  by  the  lady  to  whom  this  farewell  is  addressed  : 
"Edinburgh,  i6th.  By  Mrs.  Grant  ofLaggan,  from  whom 
we  have  received  every  kindness  imaginable  since  our  arrival  in  this 
delightful  town,"  and  who  in  the  following  page  of  quotations  from 
Scott,  Goldsmith,  and  others,  records  her  impressions  of  her 
fatherland  :  — 

1  The  original  manuscript  of  this  poem,  believed  to  have  been  written  by  Mrs. 
Grant  in  1836,  when  she  had  passed  fourscore,  may  be  seen  in  the  Lenox  Library, 
New  York.  It  is  neatly  written  on  four  quarto  pages,  and  is  in  excellent  preservation. 
The  name  of  the  American  lady  to  whom  the  poem  was  addressed  does  not  appear 
on  the  manuscript.  So  far  as  known,  it  has  never  before  appeared  in  print. 


286  APPENDIX 

"  O  Caledonia,  stern  and  wild  ! 
Meet  nurse  for  a  poetic  child  ; 
Land  of  brown  heath  and  shaggy  wood  — 
Land  of  the  mountain  and  the  flood." 

"  It  may  not  be  —  it  will  not  last  — 
The  vision  of  Enchantment's  past. 
Like  frostwork  on  the  morning  ray 
The  gilded  fabric  melts  away." 

"  Like  some  tall  cliff  which  lifts  its  awful  form, 
Swells  from  the  vale,  and  midway  leaves  the  storm  ; 
Though  round  its  breast  the  rolling  clouds  are  spread, 
Eternal  sunshine  settles  on  its  head  ! ' ' 

««  How  very  desolate  that  breast  must  be 
Whose  only  joyance  is  in  memory  ! " 


PlETfi 
COMMISSAIUS 


ARMS    OF    THE    SCHUYLER    FAMILY 


APPENDIX  287 


A  LIST  OF  MRS.  ANNE  GRANT'S  WRITINGS 

"  Poems  on  Various  Subjects."  By  Mrs.  Grant,  Laggan.  I  vol., 
8vo.  Printed  for  the  author  by  John  Moir,  Royal  Bank  Close. 
Edinburgh.  1803. 

The  same.     Second  edition.      1 804. 

"The  Highlanders,  and  Other  Poems."  By  Mrs.  Grant, 
Laggan.  Third  edition.  i8mo.  Edinburgh:  Printed  by  James 
Ballantyne  &  Co.  for  Longman,  Hurst,  &  Orme,  London.  1810. 

"  Letters  from  the  Mountains  :  Being  the  real  Correspondence 
of  a  Lady  Between  the  Years  1773  and  1807."  3  vols.,  i8mo. 
London  :  Longman,  Hurst,  Rees  &  Orme.  1 806. 

The  same.     Second  edition.      1807. 

The  same.     Boston  :  Greenough  &  Stebbins.      2  vols.,  I  zmo. 

"  Memoirs  of  an  American  Lady,  with  Sketches  of  Manners 
and  Scenes  in  America  as  they  existed  previous  to  the  Revolu- 
tion." By  the  author  of  "  Letters  from  the  Mountains."  2  vols., 
i zmo.  London:  Longman,  Hurst,  Rees  &  Orme.  1808. 

The  same.     Second  edition.      1809. 

The  same,  i  vol.,  izmo.  Boston:  B.  W.  Wells;  New 
York  :  Samuel  Campbell.  1 809. 

The  same.  Third  edition.  London  :  A.  K.  Newman  &  Co. 
2  vols.,  i  zmo.  1817. 

The  same,  i  vol.,  izmo.  New  York:  George  Dearborn. 
1836.  (Contains  Preface  by  Fitz-Greene  Halleck.) 

The  same,  i  vol.,  izmo.  New  York:  D.  Appleton  &  Co. 
1846.  (Has  Introduction  by  Grant  Thorburn.) 

"  Essays  on  the  Superstitions  of  the  Highlanders  of  Scotland.  To 
which  are  added  Translations  from  the  Gaelic,  and  Letters  con- 
nected with  those  formerly  published."  By  the  author  of  "Let- 
ters from  the  Mountains."  2  vols.,  I2mo.  London  :  Longman, 
Hurst,  Rees,  Orme  &  Brown.  1811.  (The  presentation  copy 
before  the  writer  contains  these  words  in  the  Author's  handwriting  : 
"By  Anne  Grant,  who  has  here  embodied  recollections  precious 
to  memory,  the  only  valuable  to  the  thoughtful  and  imaginative, 
such  as  the  owner  of  this  book,  Mr.  William  Wilson.") 


288  APPENDIX 

The  same.      2  vols.,  izmo.      New  York.      1813. 

"  Eighteen  Hundred  and  Thirteen  :  A  Poem  in  Two  Parts," 
8vo.  London:  Longman,  Hurst,  Rees  &  Co.  1814. 

"  Popular  Models  and  Impressive  Warnings  for  the  Sons  and 
Daughters  of  Industry."  2  vols.,  I  zmo.  London.  1815. 

"  Letters  from  the  Mountains,  Being  the  real  Correspondence 
of  a  Lady  Between  the  Years  1773  and  1803."  Edited  by  her 
son,  John  Peter  Grant,  Esq.  2  vols.,  I2mo.  London:  Longman, 
Brown,  Green  &  Longmans.  1845. 

"Memoir  and  Correspondence  of  Mrs.  Grant  of  Laggan," 
Author  of  "  Letters  from  the  Mountains,"  "  Memoirs  of  an  Ameri- 
can Lady,"  &c.  Edited  by  her  son,  John  Peter  Grant,  Esq., 
with  a  steel  portrait.  3  vols.,  post  8vo.  London  :  Longman, 
Brown,  Green  &  Longmans.  1844. 

The  same.      Second  edition.      1845. 

The  same.      Third  edition.      1853. 

"  Memoirs  of  an  American  Lady,  with  Sketches  of  Manners 
and  Scenes  in  America  as  they  Existed  Previous  to  the  Revolu- 
tion." By  Mrs.  Anne  Grant,  author  of  "  Letters  from  the 
Mountains,"  &c.,  with  a  memoir  of  Mrs.  Grant,  by  Gen.  Jas.  Grant 
Wilson.  i  vol.,  8vo,  with  steel  portrait  of  the  author,  and  other 
illustrations.  Albany:  Joel  Munsell.  1876. 

"  Letters  Written  by  Mrs.  Grant  of  Laggan,  concerning  High- 
land Affairs  and  Persons  connected  with  the  Stuart  Cause  in  the 
Eighteenth  Century."  Edited  by  J.  R.  N.  Macphail.  Edin- 
burgh :  Printed  at  the  University  Press  by  T.  &  A.  Constable  for 
the  Scottish  History  Society.  1896.  8vo,  cloth.  Privately- 
printed  edition,  40  copies.  Extracted  from  Vol.  XXVI.  of  the 
Publications  of  the  Scottish  History  Society. 

Also  numerous  contributions  in  prose  and  verse  to  the  Scottish 
journals  and  magazines,  during  her  twenty-eight  years'  residence 
in  Edinburgh.  Among  the  most  important  American  articles  on 
Mrs.  Grant's  writings,  may  be  mentioned  those  in  the  North 
American  Review,  vol.  60 ;  in  Wilson's  "  Poets  and  Poetry  of 
Scotland,"  vol.  i;  and  in  "Appletons'  Cyclopaedia  of  American 
Biography,"  vol.  2. 


INDEX 


VOL.  II.  — 19 


INDEX 


The  Contents  of  the  Memoir  of  Mrs.  Grant  of  Laggan,  the  Notes, 
and  also  the  Appendix,  are  included  in  the  Index. 


ABBOTSFORD,  Scotland,  II.  237, 

*55 
Abercrombie,  General,  II.  20,  24, 

3»»  3*»  91 

Abercromby,  Lady,  II.  266 
Abercromby,  Miss,  II.  266 
Addison,  Joseph,  64 
African  servants,  265 
Aged  Bard's  Wish,  The,  18 
Agricola  and  Mentor,  II.  74 
Albanians,  The,  78,  88 
Albany,  16,  26,  47,  54 
Albany,  Munsell's  Annals  of,  303 
Algonquins,  The,  II.  108 
Amendell  House,  II.  237,  240 
American  Indians,  132 
American  Manners,  25 
American  War,  II.  36 
Americans  worth  knowing,  32 
Amherst,  Lord,  II.    32,  91,  92, 

106 

Amusements  of  Albany,  112 
Anbury,  Capt.  Thomas,  132 
Appian  Way,  Rome,  22 
Appletons*  Cyclopaedia  of  Ameri- 
can Biography,  II.  288 
Arbuthnot,  Dr.  John,  64 
Argyll,  Duke  of,  21  j  II.  257 
Astor   Library,   New   York,   II. 
*37 


Athol,  Duchess  of,  II.  239 
Auld  West  Kirk,  31 
Austrian  Succession,  184 
Aytoun,  William  E.,  II.  282 

BACON,  Lord,  II.  284 

Baillie,  Joanna,  32  ;  II.  238,  275, 

276 

Ballantyne  and  Co.,  II.  287 
Bancroft,  George,  9 
Barbauld,  Mrs.  Anna  L.,  II.  238 
Barclay,  Rev.  Dr.,  II.  42 
Baron  of  Bradwardine,  1 3 
Beaumont,  Admiral,  II.  252 
Beaux  Stratagem,  The,  294 
Beckwith,  Colonel,  II.  107 
Beekman  Family,  The,  46 
Beranger,  Pierre  Jean  de,  II.  237 
Black  Watch,  The,  II.  31 
Blackie,  Prof.  John  Stuart,  18 
Blackwood's  Magazine,  II.  244, 

256 
Bleecker  Street  Church,  N.  Y., 

II.  252 

Blue  Bells  of  Scotland,  The,  20 
Bold  Buccleuch,  The,  II.  247 
Bolingbroke,  Lord,  64 
Bostonians,  The,  II.  238 
Braddock,  General,  II.  20 
Braddock's  Defeat,  239 


292 


INDEX 


Bradstreet,  Gen.  John,  280,  281  ; 

II.     u,    38,  40,  47,  50,    106, 

113,  114 

Brainard,  David,  225 
Breadalbane,  Lord,  II.  239 
Brewerton,  N.  Y.,  II.  79 
British  America,  II.  228,  231 
British  cause,  II.   no 
British  government,  28,  33 
British  officers,  II.  154 
Brown,  Dr.  John,  32 
Browne,  Sir  Thomas,  19 
Bruce,  King  Robert,  298 
Bruen,  Mrs.  Matthias,  II.  251 
Bruen,    Rev.  Matthias,   II.    252, 

*53 

Brunton,  Doctor,  II.  244 
Brunton,  Mrs.  Mary,  II.  239 
Bryant  and  Friends,  II.  245 
Bryant,  William  Cullen,  II.  282 
Buchan,  Lady,  II.  246 
Buffalo  Exposition  of  1901,  25 
Bull,  Honest  John,  II.  255 
Bull,  Scotch  John,  II.  256 
Burgoyne,  Gen.  John,   II.    114, 

164 

Burns,  Robert,  40  ;  II.  174 
Burr,  Col.  Aaron,  II.  213 
Byron,  Lady,  II.  238,  275 
Byron,  Lord,  II.  237,  283 

CALEDONIANS,  142 

Calton  Hill,  Edinburgh,  II.  240 

Calvinist  Tracts,  66 

Campbell,  Major  Duncan,  II.  31 

Campbell,  Lady  John,  II.  257 

Campbell,  Capt.  Mungo,  II.   63, 

79,  122 
Campbell,  Thomas,  32  ;  II.  238, 

245,  274 
Camperdown,  Lord,  1 6  ;  II.  78 


Canada,  Conquest  of,  16 
Canadian  priests,  II.  97 
Canadians,  The,  II.  106,  230 
Cardaraqui,  231 
Cassilis,  Countess  of,  II.  166 
Cassilis,  Earl  of,  II.  165 
Cawdor,  Thane  of,  II.  264 
Celtic  language,  The,  18 
Centennial  and  Columbian  Exposi- 
tions, 25 

Central  America,  II.  269 
Charles  the  Second,  45,  47 
Charles  II. ,  Beauties  of  Court,  II. 

269 

Chaucer's  Oxford  Scholar,  30 
Christian  Indians,  II.  42 
Church,  Miss  Angelica,  II.  258 
Church,  Mrs.  Angelica,  II.   258, 

260,  261 
Clarendon,  Vt.,  II.  128,  129.,  130, 

131,  167,  179,  191,  197 
Clark  of  Comrie,  II.  241 
Claverack  on  the  Hudson,  15 
Clydesdale,  II.  190 

Cochran,     Dr.    John,   253,  254; 

II.  258 

Cochran,  Lady  Thomas,  II.  241 
Cockburn,  Lord  Henry,  3  3 
Cogswell,    Joseph    G.,     10;    II. 

237,  248 

Colburn,  Henry,  II.  274 
Golden,    Cadwallader,  II.    4,    6, 

132,  133,  195,  269 

Golden' s    History   Five    Nations, 

232 

Colonial  History,  II.  107 
Constable,  T.  and  A.,  II.  288 
Constable's  Magazine,  II.  244 
Coonie  Children,  II.  179 
Coonie,  Patrick,  II.  177 
Cooper,  James  Fenimore,  16 


INDEX 


Cooper,  Gen.  John  T.,  II.  8 
Corlaer,  or  governor,  226,  232 
Cortlandts  and  Cuylers,  45 
Cowper, William,  II.  271 
Crawford,  Earl  of,  II.  85 
Cromwell,  Oliver,  189 
Crown  Point,  184  ;  II.  89,  91,  92 
Cniger,   Mrs.    Douglas,   21,   22  j 

II.  260,  266,  268 
Cuyler,  General,  II.  36,  37,  263 
Cuyler,  Misses,  II.  7 
Cuyler,  Abraham  C.,  II.  37 
Cuyler,  Abraham  N.,  148 
Cuyler,   Cornelius,   66,   274 ;  II. 

22,  66,  135 
Cuyler,  Mrs.  Cornelius,  276  j  II. 

39,  126 

Cuyler,  Elizabeth,  II.  5* 
Cuyler,  Johannes,  274 
Cuyler,  Philip,  II.  37,  83,  196 
Cuyler  Family,  II.  135 

DALYELL,  Capt.  James,  II.  107 
Davers,  Sir  Charles,  II.  105 
Davers,  Sir  Robert,  II.   99,   101, 

102,  103,  104,  105 
Dean,  Capt.  Steward,  47 
D'Este,  Colonel,  35 
De  la  Barre,  M.,  229 
De  Lancey  Family,  45,  46,  163 
De  Quincy,  Thomas,  26,  31 
Detroit,  Siege  of,  II.  50 
Dewar,  Mrs.  Annie  Laggan,  II. 

191 

DeWitt,  Dr.  Thomas,  303 
Dianamat,  II.  139 
Diren,  General,  II.  247,  254 
Douglas,  George,  of  New  York, 

22 
Douglas,      Harriet.     See      Mrs. 

Douglas  Cruger 


Duncan,  Colonel,  16  ;  II.  64,  65, 

78,  96,  107,  122 
Duncan,  Lord,  II.  64 
Dunfermline,  II.  191 
Dunlop,  Robert,  II.  138 
Dutchman's  Fireside,  The,  10,  25 

EDINBURGH,  23,  26,  30,  32  ;  II. 

280,  287 

Edinburgh  Castle,  31 
Edinburgh  Review,  II.  245 
Eglinton,  The  Earl  of,  II.  192 
Eighteen  -Hundred-and-Thirteen, 

The  poem  of,  27 
English  Border,  The,  II.  247 
English  History,  II.  170 
Erskine,  Chancellor,  II.  269 
Erskine,  Mrs.,  II.  240,  242 
Esmond,  Henry,  by  Thackeray,  9 
"Ettrick  Shepherd."     See  James 

Hogg 

FAIR  MAID  OF  PERTH,  II.  277 
Fairmount  Park,  Philadelphia,  II. 

267 

FalstafTs  Soldiers,  188,  295 
Fermor,  Lady  Juliana,  II.  267 
Fifty-fifth  Highlanders,  II.    122, 

123,  129,  191,  192 
Fingal,  a  poem,  II.  64 
Five  Nations,  The,  62,  63  5  II. 

14,  16,  232,  233 
Fletcher,  Mrs.  Eliza,  26  }  II.  238, 

253 

Fontenoy,  battle  of,  II.  31 
Forbes,  Lord,  II.  252 
Fort  Augustus,  Scotland,  17 
Fort  Brewerton,  II.  63,  79 
Fort  Front enac,  229 
Fort  Hendrick,  II.  57 
Fort  Mackinaw,  II.  95 


294 


INDEX 


Fort  Ontario,  II.  65 

Fort  Orange  (Albany),  48 

Fort  Oswego,  II.  63 

Fort  St.  Frederick,  184 

Fort  William,  Inverness-shire,  13 

Fort  William  Henry,  II.  31 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  II.  111 

French  Canadians,  156,  182 

French  Protestants,  246 

French  War,  The,  186 

Frielinghuysen,     Dominie,     285, 

289,  291,  297,  302,  303 
Frontenac,  Count,  229 
Fry,  Mrs.  Elizabeth,  II.  238,  281 

GAELIC  translations,  28 

Garth,  David  Stewart  of,  II.  276 

Gay,  John,  poet,  64 

George  the  Fourth,  26  ;  II.  256 

Glassel,  Miss,  II.  257 

Glenmoriston  family,  II.  101 

Godolphin,  Lord,  64 

Goethe,  J.  W.  von,  II.  237 

Goldsmith,  Oliver,  II.  285 

Gordon,  The  Duchess  of,  20 

Gordon,   Sir  John   Watson,  21  ; 

II.  268 

Graham,  Capt.  Gordon,  II.  31 
Grant,  Commodore,  II.  101 
Grant,  Mrs.  Anne  —  Memoir  of, 
13  ;    mentioned,    38,   42,   45, 
148,    149,    217,    226  ;    II.    9, 
53,   74,    108,    135,   191,   237, 
253.  *55»  *59>  *68»  270,  271, 
272,    273,     278,     282,     285  ; 
Bibliography,  287,   288 
Grant,  Mrs.  Elizabeth,  13 
Grant,  Mrs.,  of  Carron,  13 
Grant,  Frederic,  II.  241 
Grant,  The  Rev.  James,  17, 19,  31 
Grant,  John  Andrew,  21 


Grant,  Mrs.  John  Peter,  21,  33 
Grant,  John  Peter,  33  ;  II.  238, 

288 

Grant,  Captain  Walter,  33 
Grant,  Sir  William,  23,  37 
Green  Mountain  Boys,  II.  164, 

199 

Green  Mountains,  II.  198 
Great  Britain,  II.  91 
Gregory,  Dr.  John,  II.  252 
Groesbeck,  Catherine,  161 
Guild,  Miss,  II.  280 

HAMILTON,  Duke  of,  II.  256 
Hamilton,    Alexander,    II.    213, 

263 
Hamilton,  Mrs.    Alexander,    10  ; 

II.  258,  259,  260 
Hamilton,    Lord    Archibald,    II. 

256 

Hamilton,  Mrs.  Elizabeth,  33 
Hamilton,  John  C.,  II.  259 
Hamilton,  Philip,  II.  259 
Hamilton,  Thomas,  II.  256 
Hamilton,  Sir  William,  II.  255, 

256 

Hall,  Mrs.  S.  Carter,  II.  280 
Hall's    History  of  Vermont,  II. 

164,  191 
Halleck,    Fitz-Greene,    II.    237, 

287 

Harrowgate,  England,  II.  255 
Hasell,  Mrs.,  II.  268,  270 
Hastings,  Lady,  II.  241 
Hayley,    William,    32  ;  II.   271, 

272 
Hemans,    Mrs.   Felicia,    32  ;    II. 

279 

Henry,  Patrick,  II.  247 
Henry  the  Fifth,  34 
Highland  Regiments,  II.  276 


INDEX 


295 


Highland  Society,  The,  28 
Highlanders  and  other  Poems,  20, 

34 

Highlanders  of  Scotland,  1 8 
Highlands  of  Scotland,  II.  276 
Highlands,  Poetry  of,  18 
Hogg,  James,  27 
Holy  Land,  The,  II.  a69 
Horses,  unknown  in  Oswego,  II. 

74 
Howe,  Lord,  II.  ai,  a  a,  33,  a  6, 

ay,  105 
Hudson  River,  The,  47;  II.  185, 

a79 
Huguenots,   The,    af,    73,    191  ; 

II.  aia 

Humboldt,  Baron  von,  II.  237 
Hunter,  Robert,  i6a 
Hunting  Excursions,  II.  70 
Hurons,  a30  ;  II.  103,  108,  109 

INDIAN  Beauty,  II.  99,  100 

Indian  corn,  II.  76 

Indian  language,  134 

Indian  Sachems,  184 

Indian  Traders,  96 

Indian  War,  II.  no,  113,  117 

Indian  Widow,  The,  II.  a8a 

Indian  Wigwams,  178 

Indian  Women,  138  ;  II.  119 

Iroquois,  or  Five  Nations,  55 

Irving,   Washington,   9,   32  ;  II. 

237,  245 
Isle  of  Wight,  II.  a38 

JAMESON,  Mrs.  Anne,  II.  369 

Jay,  Frances,  II.  fa 

Jay,  John,  II.  a57 

Jay,  Peter  Augustus,  II.  a57 

Jeffrey,  Lord  Francis,  9,  27,  33 

Johnson,  Sir  Guy,  II.    43 


Johnson,  Sir  John,  II.  166,   193, 

a3a 

Johnson,  Dr.  Samuel,  54 
Johnson,  Sir  William,  II.  4,  n, 

*4»  *7>  93.  96,  103,  233 
Johnson  Hall,  II.  15,  a6a 
Jordanhill,  Scotland,  II.  a4o 

KENNEDY,  Archibald,  II.  165 
Killiekrankie,  battle  of,  II.  a 76 
King  George  the  Third,  ia4,  aa7 
King  Hendrick,  6  a  ;  II.  57,  58 
King  William  the  Third,  46 
Kings  Arms,  New  York  Inn,  1 24 
Kinrara,  The  Estate  of,  ao 

LAGGAN,  Inverness-shire,  17,  19, 

ao,  a6 

Lake  Cham  plain,  148 
Lake  George,  II.  a9,  30 
Lake  Huron,  II.  108 
Lake  Ontario,  aa9 
Lambert,  Major  William  H.,  9 
Lansing,  Gertrude,  253  ;  II.  193 
Lansing,  Johannes,  245 
Lansing,  Peter,  II.  196 
Laplanders,  The,  II.,  aa» 
Lee,  Gen.  Charles,  II.  25,  33 
Legare,   Hugh  Swinton,  II.  248 
Legends  of  the  Madonna,  II.  269 
Leggins,  of  deer  skin,  132 
Leighton,  Bishop,  II.  340 
Lennox,  Mrs.  Charlotte,  54 
Lenox  Library,    II.  285 
Letters  from  the  Mountains,  17, 

»3»  *4 

Lines  to  a  Lady,  II.  283 
Literary  Reminiscences,  26 
Livingston,  Mr.,  Edinburgh,  II. 

243 
Livingston,  Walter,  253 


296 


INDEX 


Livingston  Family,  163 
Loch  Katrine,  II.  238 
Lochawside,  Scotland,  II.  180 
Lochiel,  Cameron  of,  II.  276 
Lockhart,  John  Gibson,  II.  251, 

*55 
Longman  &  Co.,  London,  22,  24, 

34;  II.  287,  288 
Lome,  The  Marquis  of,  21 
Loudon,  Lady,  II.  241 
Loudon,  Lord,  II.  u 
Louis  Fourteenth,  56,  192 
Louisburgh,  Capture  of,  II.  91 
Lovelace,  Governor,  162 
Low,  Nicholas,  II.  52 
Lowell,  Miss  Anne  Cabot,  23,  24 
Lowell,  John,  Junior,  23 
Lowell,  Judge  John,  24 
Lowell,  Miss  Sarah,  II.  248 
Lydius,  The  Rev.  John,  303 

MACDONALD,  Captain,  II.  241 
Mackay,  General,  II.  277 
Mackenzie,  Catherine,  II.  270 
Mackenzie,   Henry,   27,   35  5  II. 

271,   276 

Macphail,  J.  R.  N.,  II.  288 
Mac  Vicar,  Capt.  Duncan,  13,  15, 

16,  17  ;  II.  122, 124,  147,  160, 

162,  164,  166,  180,  191,  192 
MacVicar,  Mrs.  Duncan,  15 
Mariamat,  II.  139 
Marlborough,  Duke  of,  64 
Marriages  in  Albany,  108 
Middleton,    Mr.,   of  S.    C.,    II. 

253 
Milton,    John,    16,    19  ;   II.     88, 

122,    150 

Moccasins,  of  deer  skin,  132 
Mohawk  language,  143 
Mohawk  Valley,  II.  79 


Mohawks,    The,    55,    100,    156, 

159,  183,  189 

Mohicans,  The  Last  of  the,  16 
Montague,  Lady  Mary,  141 
Montgomerie,  Colonel,  II.  192 
Moore,  Lady  Henry,  II.  132 
Moore,  Sir  Henry,  II.  132,  133 
Mount  Annan,  II.  246,  247,  254 
Mount  Henry,  II.  272 
Mount  Seir,  206 
Munhattoes,  The,  45,  47 
Munro,  John,  II.  164,  183 
Munsell,  Joel,  10;  II.  288 
Murray,  Lady  Augusta,  35 

NEW  ENGLAND,  II.  119,  136,  278 
New  Hampshire,  236 
New  Jersey  College,  252 
New  York    City,   II.    115,    124, 

'93>  J9S 

New  York  troops,  188,  194 
Newton,  Sir  Isaac,  II.  284 
Niagara  Falls,  II.  101 
Nigel,  Fortunes  of,  II.  255 
North,    Christopher.       See    Prof. 

John  Wilson 

North  America,  141  ;  II.  91 
North  American  Review,  II.  278, 

288 

Norton,  Andrews,  II.  278,  280 
Norton,  Mrs.   Andrews,  II.    278, 

280 
Norton,  Charles  Eliot,  II.  28oj 

O'CALLAGHAN,      Dr.      Edmund 

Bailey,  II.  50 
O'Doherty,  The,  II.  256 
Ogilvie,  Dr.  John,  II.  42,  135 
Onnonthio,    or    Governor,     226, 

230,  231 
Onondagas,  The,  55,  229 


INDEX 


297 


Ontario  Lands,  II.  96 
Opie,  Mrs.  Amelia,  II.  280,  281 
Ossian,  The  poem  of,  18 
Oughton,  Sir  Adolphus,  II.  45 
Oxford,  Lord,  64 

PARADISE  LOST,  16,  65  ;  II.  79, 

87 

Parkman's  Pontiac,  II.  107 
Paulding,  James  Kirke,  10,  25 
Pearson's  Albany  Settlers,  164 
Penn,  Gov.  John,  II.  267 
Penn,    William,  II.     221,    223, 

225,  267 

Pennsylvania,  II.  219 
Philipse,   Frederick,    and  Manor 

Confiscated,  50 
Plays  represented,  293 
Pontiac  War,   The,   II.    50,   93, 

95.  96»  97,  98,  99,  "3,  118 
Potato  Bogle,  II,  245 
Poughkeepsie,    N.   Y.,   II.    270, 

282 
Preston,    William    C.,   of  South 

Carolina,  II.    248,  253,  268 
Prince  Leopold,  II.  239 
Pruyn,  Col.  Augustus,  10 
Pruyn,  Mrs.  John  V.  L.,  II.  252 
Pultowa,  Battle  of,  II.  65 

QUACKAWARY,   II.    217 

Quakers,  The,  II.  225,  227,  267 
Queen  Anne,  63 
Queen  of  Hearts,  II.  99 
Quincy,  Mrs.  Josiah,  23 

RALSTON,    Robert,    of  Philadel- 
phia, II.  248 

Recruiting  Officer,  The,    297 
Rensselaerwyck,  46 
Revolutionary  Fathers,  II.  263 


Rhode  Island,  271 

Richard  Coeur  de  Lion,  II.  282 

Richardson,  Sir  John,  II.  253 

Rogers,  Samuel,  II.  245 

Roman  Atticus,  II.  196 

Ross,    Mrs.   Schuyler,  governess, 

II.  258,  261 
Roy,  James,  II.  177 
Roy's  Wife  of  Aldivalloch,  13 
Royal  Americans,    285 
Ryerson,  Doctor,  II.  254 

SAINT  CAROLINE,  II.  251 
St.  Lawrence  River,  II.  65 
St.  Lucia  Island,  II.  276,  277 
Schenectady,  II.  57,  159 
Schuyler,  Catalina,  66  ;  II.  87 
Schuyler,  Cornelius,  II.  45 
Schuyler,  Cortlandt,  II.  45,   126, 

139,  *93»  i9<S,  263 
Schuyler,  George  L.,  21 
Schuyler,  George  W.,  10 
Schuyler,  Gertrude,  245 
Schuyler,     Jeremiah,     148,    152, 

161,  185,  247,  250 
Schuyler,  Johannes,  66,  180;  II. 

113 

Schuyler,  John,  55 
Schuyler,  John,  Jr.,  II.  9 
Schuyler,  John  C.,  166  ;  II.  48 
Schuyler,  Margaretta  ("Aunt"), 
24,   66,    128,   129,    131,   146, 
147,  162,  166,  180,  195,  198, 
200,  237,  243,  244,  249,  286, 
287,  306  ;  II.  2,  3,  9,  10,  24, 
*5»    33,   35,   47,  4«,    82,   86, 
92,  97,    106,   113,    117,    119, 

121,    122,    126,    131,    132,    134, 

J35»  *39»  I5°,  X58»  l65,  I78, 
179,  191,  192,  194,  195,  196, 
197,  260,  261,  266,  271 


298 


INDEX 


Schuyler,    Peter,    Colonel,    128, 

146,  161,  184,  185,  210,146; 
II.  165 

Schuyler,    Peter    (Pedrom),    148, 

151  $  II.  12,  138 
Schuyler,  Col.  Peter  S.,  118 
Schuyler,   Col.    Philip,  14,    146, 

147,  151,  155,  145,  180  ;    II. 

»»  3,  9 
Schuyler,  Gen.  Philip,  55  ;  II.  9, 

ii,  44,  50,51,  113,  1 16,  131, 

184,  158 
Schuyler,  Pieter,  Col.,  59,  60,  64, 

73,86 

Schuyler,  Rensselaer,  II.  258 
Schuyler,  Mrs.  Richard,  II.  48 
Schuyler,  Stephen,  II.  51 
Schuyler,  Susan,  148 
Schuyler  Flats,  II.  8,  136 
Schuyler  house  burned,  II.  48 
Schuylerville,  N.  Y.,  II.  114 
Scot,  John,  killed  in  duel,  II.  151 
Scott,  Sir  Walter,  9,  12,  17,  35  ; 

II.  237,   145,  255,  275,  276, 

185 

Scottish  Highlanders,  27 
Scottish  Highlands,  II.  279 
Scottish  History  Society,  II.  288 
Scottish  Literary  World,  27 
Scottish  Peasants,  II.  112 
Selkirk,  Earl  of,  II.  231 
Seresby,  Professor,  II.  256 
Seventy-Seventh  Highlanders,   13 
Shakespeare,    30,   195  ;   II.   149, 

168,  169,  155,  269 
Shirley,  Governor,  186 
Smyth,  Henry  and  Isabella,  II.  272 
Solway  Firth,  II.  254 
Somerville,  Lord,  II.  250 
Southey,  Robert,  9  ;  II.  273,  275 
Spectator,  of  London,  59,  64 


Staats,  Drs.  Abraham  and  Samuel, 

131 

Staats,  Barent,  II.  196 
Stealing  turkeys,  in 
Steamboats,  Newton  and  Roches- 
ter, 47 

Steenhoek  kill,  154 
Stephens,  John  L.,  II.  269 
Steuart,  Sir  Henry,  II.  272 
Stewart,    Gen.    David,   II.    276, 

277,  278 
Stewart,    Alexander   of  Inverna- 

hyle,  13 

Stoics  of  the  Woods,  II.  268 
Stuart,  Colonel,  II.  239 
Stuart,  Dr.  John,  II.  43 
Stuart,  Hon.  William,  II.  267 
Stuart  Cause,  The,  II.  288 
Superstitions  of  Highlanders,  27 
Symes,  Lancaster,  303 

TEN  BROECK,  Gen.  Abraham,  45 
Ten  Broeck,  Dirk  (Mayor),  45 
Ten  Broeck,  Dirk  Wesselse,  45, 

274 

Ten  Broeck,  Mrs.  Elizabeth,  46 
Thackeray,  William  M.,  9,  32  ; 

II.  271,  273 

Thorburn,  Grant,  II.  287 
Thorndike,    Augustus,  II.   242, 

246,  248 
Ticknor,    George,   II.    64,    237, 

248,  253 

Ticonderoga,  15  ;  II.  29,  40,  91 
Trees,  76,  103  ;  elms  and  syca- 
mores, 150 
Trinity  Church,  New  York,  II. 

4» 

Trois  Rivieres,  II.  82 
Tweedy,  Sarah,  II.    83 
Tyte,  a  Schuyler  servant,  268 


INDEX 


299 


UNITED  STATES,  The,  II.  228, 
231,  273 

Upper  Canada,  II.  233  ;  Mo- 
hawks removed  to,  II.  233 

Upper  Lakes,  II.  935  Indian  War 
of  the,  II.  93,  94 

Utopia,  A  Serene,  II.  72 

Utrecht,  Treaty  of,  1 84 

VAN  CORTLANDT,  Augustus  and 

James,  II.  52 

Van  Cortlandt,  Cornelia,  II.  113 
Van  Cortlandt,  John,  II.  83 
Van  Cortlandt,  Olof  S.,  II.  52 
Van     Cortlandt,    Stephanus,     II. 

83 
Van  Cortlandt    Manor,   50  ;    II. 

83 
Van    Rensselaer,    Cornelius,    II. 

152 

Van  Rensselaer,  Jeremiah,  146 
Van  Rensselaer,   John,  280  ;  II. 

iS4 

Van  Rensselaer,  Maria,  146 
Van    Rensselaer,     Stephen    (Pat- 

roon),  46,  48 
Van     Rensselaer    Family,    The, 

II.    9 
Van  der  Poel,  Johannes  and  Mrs., 

201 

Venice  and  Oswego,  II.  74 
Venison,  abundance  of,  271  ;  II. 

71 
Voice  of  Cona,  44 

WALLACE,  by  Blind  Harry,  15 
Wampum  preferred  to  beads,  217 
Warrior,  refractory,  186,  187 
Washington,    Gen.    George,   II. 
247>  257,  260,  263 


Watts,  John  and  Anne,  II.  165 
Waverley,  by  Sir  Walter  Scott, 

*3>    i4 
Waverley    Novels,  attributed    to 

Mrs.  Grant,  27 

Wei  wood's   "Memoirs  of   Eng- 
land," II.  64 
Wendell,  Jacob,  II.  150 
Wendell,   Mrs.   Jacob,   II.    151, 

181 

West  Friesland,  289 
West  India  Girls,  20 
West  India  Productions,  273 
Westminster,  Peace  of,  47 
West  Troy,  N.  Y.,  II.  177 
Westerlo,  Rev.  Eilardus,  II.  41 
Weyman,  New  York  printer,  289 
White  Creek,  N.  Y.,  II.  191 
White  Plains,   N.    Y.,   II.     63  ; 

battle  of,  II.  63 

White's  History  of  Selborne,  197 
Whittington  and  his  Cat,  197 
Wigwams  at  the  Flats,  178,  185 
Wild  turkeys,  II.  72 
Wilson,  James,  II.  256 
Wilson,  James  Grant,  9,  25,  27, 
32,    36  ;    II.    260,   268,   371, 
288 

Wilson,   Prof.   John    ( "  Christo- 
pher  North"),    27;    II.   255 
Wilson,   Mrs.  Jane  Sibbald,  34  ; 

II.  270 
Wilson,  William,  9,  30,  34  ;  II. 

268,  282,  288 
Wilson's    Poets   and    Poetry    of 

Scotland,  27  ;  II.  288 
Winds,  mild  Southern,  93 
Windsor  Forest,  64 
Winepress,    Captain,    commands 

Albany  fort,  II.  79 
Winter  amusements,  117 


3oo 


INDEX 


Winters,    coldness    of,    92,    93  ; 

II.    161 
Wolf,  a  favorite  horse,  stratagem 

of,  268 

Wolfe,  General  James,  II.  40 
Wolves    of  America,    68,    101, 

217 ;  II.    61,   62 
Wolves,  foxes,  and  bears,  II.  61 
Women  Slaves,  142,  143 
Wood  Creek,  II.  59,  60 


Wood  rangers,  practical,  II.  71 
Worcester's  Rebellion,  241 
Wordsworth,  William,  II.  245 
Wrens,  and  their  nests,  167,  172 
Wynant's  Kill,  and  Islands,  148 

YUCATAN,  II.  269 
Yonnondio,  231,  232 

ZEPHANIAH  and  Obadiah,  II.  147 


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